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The Wakefield Colony. 



A Contribution to the Local History of Kansas. 



By WILLIAM J. CHAPMAN, Ph. D., 

( Univ. Halle, 1904.) 
Member of the Kansas Sate Historical Society. 



Reprinted from Volume 10 of the Kansas Historical Collections. 



STATE PRINTING OFFICE, 
TOPEKA, 1908. 



.VI1C42 



^. 






•4 



To the Old Settlers of 

Wakefield and the surrounding country 

this narrative 

is dedicated in heartfelt appreciation 

of the interest 

they have taken in the author's efforts 

to recover the 

History of Pioneer Days. 

w. J. c. 



NOTE. 

The material contained in the following narrative was, for the most 
part, collected during the autumn and winter of 1905. An article on the 
English settlement at Victoria, Ellis county, from the pen of Mr. R. T. 
Batchelor, which appeared in the Wakefield Advertiser January 21, 1898, 
first suggested the idea of a history of the beginnings of Wakefield. In 
the year 1899 the writer corresponded with several of the older residents 
of the town, but was not successful in getting them to record the story of 
pioneer days. In consequence the plan was laid aside for three or four 
years. The history in its present form does not claim to be exhaustive, 
although every care has been taken to render it accurate. (October 26, 
1906.) 

This account of the Wakefield colony was first published serially in the 
Clay Center Times in 1907, and then reprinted as a pamphlet. (Clay 
Center, Kan., 1907.) So much new material has come to light during the 
year 1907 that I have found it desirable to revise the "History of Wake- 
field" throughout, and to incorporate the additional facts in the body of 
the narrative. _ W. J. C. 

HosMEB Hall, Hartford, Conn., March 12, 1908. 



THE WAKEFIELD COLONY. 

A CONTRIBUTION TO THE LOCAL HISTORY OF KANSAS. 
By William J. Chapman, ^ 

Ph. D. ( University of Halle. 1904). 
and member of the Kansas State Historical Society. 

The English settlement at Wakefield, Clay county, was one of four 
European colonies that came out . to Kansas nearly forty years ago. The 
following pages recount the story of its beginnings. Doubtless fuller in- 
formation might be gleaned by one who had time to devote to the task. 
The writer has had access to the following sources of information : 

1. Addresses delivered by Mr. J. B. Quimby, Doctor Burt, and Rev. 
Richard Wake, at the Old Settlers' Reunion, October 10, 1894. The two 
first named addresses appeared in the Wakefield Advertiser, October 25, 
1894. Rev. Mr. Wake's address was published in the same paper November 
8. 1894. 

2. The Wakefield Herald, vol. 1, No. 3, April, 1871. (By the courtesy 
of Mrs. Wm. Sparrowhawk.) 

3. Miscellaneous printed matter, including a copy of the Star of Empire 
(now unfortunately lost). 

4. Three maps belonging to Mr. J. P. Marshall, of the Wakefield Coop- 
erative Association. The earliest of these is entitled "A Map of Junction 
City, Kansas, and Adjacent Country," page 46. It shows the area of 
settlement shortly before the coming of the English colony. The other two 
two was made in the year 1874, and has been invaluable in determining the 
location of the settlers and in furnishing clues in the search for oral in- 
formation. 

are maps of Wakefield and vicinity, pages 50 and 51. The earlier of the 

5. The Plat-book maps. These are contained in a subscription work en- 
titled "An Historical Plat- book of Clay County," published by the Bird & 
Mickle Map Company, Chicago, 111., 1881. 

Note 1.— William John Chapman was born at Stoke-sub-Hamden. near Montacute, Somer- 
set. England, on November 15, 1869. Hi.s early childhood was spent at Wakefield. Kan. His 
parents returned to England in the autumn of 1874, where he received his education at boarding- 
school and by private tuition between the years 1875 and 1884. He came back to Kansas with his 
parents in 1884 and lived on the old homestead, in the vicinity of Wakefield, for eight years. 
After a course of preparatory study, he was licensed to preach in the Congregational de- 
nomination by a council which met at Wakefield on November 26, 1894. He was acting pastor at 
Wakefield from February, 1895, till September, 1896, and at the Congregational church. Nickerson, 
Reno county, 1898-'99. In 1897-'98 and in 1899-1901 he studied at Chicago Theological Seminary, 
and upon his graduation received the E. W. Blatchford fellowship for two years (1902-'03). On 
the expiration of the fellowship, he remained abroad for an additional year of post-graduate 
study under Prof. Alois Riehl. of Halle, and in December, 1904, received from the University the 
degree of Ph. D. cum lande. He has written on the following subjects: "The Geography of 
History" (Great Bend. 1894); "The Religion of the Dakota Indians" (Baccalaureate Dissertation. 
Chicago, 1901): " Die Teleologie Kants" (Halle. Germany, 1904). In 1906 he compiled the bibliog- 
raphy to the Gould Prize Essays, "Roman Catholic and Protestant Bibles Compared." (New 
York, Scribner's, 1908), edited by Prof. M. W. Jacobus, of Hartford Theological Seminary. More 
recently he has assisted Prof. E. C. Richardson, of Princeton University, in the production of "An 
Alphabetical Subject Index and Index Encyclopedia to Periodical Articles on Religion." 

(5) 



6 The Wakefield Colony. 

For the use of much of the printed material my especial thanks are due 
to Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Lumb. of Wakefield. 

Official Records.— It is a matter of great regret that none of the official 
records of the Wakefield Colony have been available. In a letter addressed to 
the writer and dated Salt Lake City, February 1, 1899, Rev. Richard Wake says : 
"The records of the company were retained by Mr. Maitland when he re- 
moved to Washington, and I presume were destroyed in the great Seattle 
fire which consumed his property a number of years ago." 

Oral Information.— Iniormation has been gathered from all the old set- 
tlers with whom I have had the opportunity of conversing, but especially 
from the following persons : Messrs. William Guy, John Chapman, R. T. 
Batchelor, J. P. Marshall, H. S. Walter, T. C. Roscoe, E. R. Hawes, E. 
Eustace, T. Beldham, H. W. C. Budden, Mrs. Wm. Sparrowhawk and Mr. 
and Mrs. W. E. Lumb. For additional particulars I am indebted to Messrs. 
Wm. Seal and A. R. Goffin, and also to the Rev. R. O. Mackintosh, rector 
of St. George's church, for his kindness in securing information concern- 
ing the English settlers in Union township. In addition to the persons 
above named, I desire to thank Rev. Richard Wake, of Los Angeles, Cal., 
for several important corrections, and likewise to express my indebtedness 
to the secretary and department of archives of the Kansas State Historical 
Society, as well as the librarians of the State Library and the Library of the 
Connecticut State Historical Society. 



I. -REPUBLICAN TOWNSHIP BEFORE THE COMING OF THE 

ENGLISH. 

THE earliest American settlers in this neighborhood came in the years 
1856 and 1857. In April of the former year Moses, William and Jere- 
miah Younkins and John P. King, from Somerset county, Pennsylvania, set- 
tled on Timber creek, in what is now Grant township. The following year, 
1857, was marked by the coming of the first New England settlers, when 
Messrs. J. B. Quimby and W. E. Payne settled in the southeast part of Re- 
publican township. Persons belonging to the Pennsylvania colony say that 
the population of Somerset county was of mixed origin, containing both 
Scotch-Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch elements. ^ They beHeve the date of 
settlement to go back to the close of the colonial period. The New England 
settlers were colonial Americans of English descent. In the autumn of 
1857 came another group of settlers.. Lorenzo Gates, John Gill, and William 
Mall located higher up the river, where the names of Gatesville and Mall 
Creek commemorate them. The Mall family were natives of Baden, in 
South Germany.^ In 1858 the New England colony was reenforced by the 
coming of Rev. Wm. Todd, formerly a missionary at Madura in southern 
India. The first actual settler on the site of Wakefield was James Gilbert, 
who came in 1858. 

Note 3.— S. S. Gaston, J. Faidley. Somerset county, Pennsylvania, "is composed of a high 
and rather level table-land between the great Alleghany mountains and Laurel hill. It abounds 
in what are called glades — level wet lands about the head waters of the numerous streams that 
rise in the county. The climate of this elevated region is too cold and the summers too short for 
raising corn, and the land is generally too wet for wheat. Oats, rye, hay and potatoes are the 
principal crops. The glades, when properly managed, form productive dairy farms. The well- 
known glades butter bears the palm in Baltimore and Washington."— ( Hist. Coll. of the State 
of Pennsylvania, Phila., 1843, pp, 615, 616.) 

Note 4. -Plat- book, pp. 23, 89; Cutler's History of Kansas, 1883, p. 1312. 



The Wakefield Colony. 7 

' ' In the summer of 1858 James Gilbert and family took up their residence 
there (i. e., the 'eighty' south of Wakefield), he filing on it. He made 
rapid progress in improvements, and in many respects was a model pioneer. 
They remained about two years, and during that time built a larger and 
better house a few rods northvof the present site of Wakefield, which was 
occupied by them in 1859, making them the first settlers actually living in 
what is now Wakefield In the spring of 1860 he very suddenly left the 
country and his family soon followed."'^ 

The earliest settlements were determined exclusively by natural condi- 
tions. Of these the most important were the presence of wood and water, 
and the possibility of defense against Indians or outlaws. None of these 
conditions were to be found upon the high prairie. Along the banks of the 
river there were very few trees and only at the opening of the creek valleys 
was there a fairly dense growth of timber. For this reason the high prairies 
and the open river valley long remained unoccupied, but wherever a large 
creek flowed into the river there one would find the cabin of a settler or, if 
conditions favored it, the homes of a group of settlers. To this fact we owe 
many of our older place names. Thus Quimby creek, Mall creek, and Caine's 
creek preserve the names of their pioneer settlers. Milford grew up in the 
Bachelor creek neighborhood, and if the little stream which bounds Wake- 
field on the south had been sufficiently important as a landmark it would 
doubtless have been called Gilbert's creek. 

The settlers, few as they were, were much depleted by the troublous 
times of the civil war. 

"In 1860 there were eleven families in the Quimby neighborhood. In 
1863 J. B. Quimby and Ed Kirby were the only men left there. John But- 
ler, Lorenzo Gates and Jacob Mall were the only ones left on Mall creek."** 

In a very real sense Kansas formed a part of the seat of war, being on 
the one side exposed to the attacks of guerrillas from Missouri, and on the 
other to the depredations of the plains Indians." In every community all 
1 he men who could be spared bore arms. Fort Riley was the military head- 
quarters. Henry Avery, of this city, recollects having been on picket duty 
near the ruins of the old Pawnee state-house when the news of the burning 
of Lawrence, August 21, 1863, came to the frontier settlements. The Indi- 
ans continued to be a source of danger for several years after the close of 
the civil war. The battle of Arickaree,^ sometimes called the battle of 
Beecher's Island, was fought September 17 to 19, 1868, just a year before 
the coming of the English settlers. At a later time one of the Wakefield 
colonists fell in Custer's last battle on the Little Big Horn. 

Note 5. — Wakefield Advertiser, October 25. 1894. address by J. B. Quimby. October 10. 1894. 

Note 6. -Plat-book, p. 15. 

Note 7. — "The next object of interest called to our attention." says Mr. R. T. Batchelor. in 
his account of Victoria. Ellis county, "was Union Pacific cemetery, just west of town and on the 
right of way. containing- about twelve graves. The plot of ground is neatly and substantially 
fenced, and kept in excellent rapair by the railway company. There are seven graves in a row, 
with a rough undressed stone at the head and foot of each. On one is carved the words 'In 
Memory ' and the commencement of another letter ; the others are unmarked, excepting the foot 
of the south grave, which is roughly inscribed as follows: ' In Memory of Hry McDonney of Cam- 
bridge. Mass.. and five others, to me unknown for their memory. Ive carved this stone. Killed 
by Indians in the year 1864. Dock Williams, carver.' "—( Wakefield >4duerWse?-, January 21, 1898.) 

Note 8— The Battle of Arickaree. by Winfield Freeman. Kan. Hist. Coll.. vol. 6, pp. 346-357; 
Hugh O'Neill, in the Kansas City Star. November 29. 1905. 

)i:ur^ cM^^iz^ ^ ^T^t^M^r, 4^^/^-i--^ '^^r":iSJ^!^ 



8 The Wakefield Colony. 

Doctor Burt, who came to Kansas in the spring of 1868, has thus described 
the area of settlement: 

"In coming from Bachelor,* now Milford. the first house after leaving 
Mr. Hopkins's, this side of the river, was Mr. Quimby's log cabin, then 
Mr. Todd's stone house, then an old-fashioned log cabin where Mr. Payne's 
house now stands, then a log house in what is now Wakefield. . . . The 
next house to the north was, I think, Harvey Ramsey's, and the next ones 
were in the Avery district, which seemed well on toward Clay Center. . . . 
There was a cabin at the river where Mr. Manuel now lives, then occupied 
by Mr. North, of pleasant memories (we used to hunt wild turkeys from 
there). To the west Mr. Kirby's, also of logs, was, I think, the only house 
between us and Chapman creek— we had to go half way to Junction City 
before finding a house. The first public improvement I heard of after I 
came was to finish schoolhouse No. 8, so it could be used as a meeting-house. ' '^ 

The following gives an > estimate of the unoccupied area : 

"In January, 1870, there were no houses between Clay Center and Fancy 
creek, between Clay Center and Chapman creek, nor between the head of 
Chapman creek and Wakefield. " '" 

The accuracy of this statement has been called in question, but perhaps 
it may be interpreted to mean that before the coming of the English settlers 
in 1869-'70 the high prairies of Clay county remained for the most part un- 
occupied. 

II. -THE ORIGIN OF THE KANSAS LAND AND EMIGRATION 

COMPANY. 

The Rev. Richard Wake,'' to whom the first impulse toward the formation 
of an English colony m this neighborhood was due, came to the United States 
in 1854, settling at first near New York. In 1860 he removed to Illinois. 
Soon after the close of the civil war he began to advocate through the 
English press the advantages of colonization on the western prairies. Two 
parties of Englishmen were in this way settled in the vicinity of Lincoln, 
Neb. Mr. Wake subsequently returned to Illinois, and, as he tells us, did 
not anticipate further experience in colonization. '^ At least three separate 
factors may be traced in the formation of the "company" that colonized 
Wakefield. Mr. R. H. Drew was a land-agent in London, and Mr. Wake 
was also widely known in Great Britain through his advocacy of the prairie 
states as a field for- immigration. At the same time Mr. John Wormald, of 

* The act incorporating- the town of " Bachelder " is contained in the Private Laws of Kansas 
Territory, for 1858, p. 303; Bradley E. FuUington, Samuel D. Houston. Moses Younken, Abraham 
Barry and Martin F. Conway, incorporators. 

Note 9.- Wakefield Advertiser. October 29. 1894. 

Note 10. -Plat-book, pp. 15. 16. 

Note 11. — Wakefield Advertiser. November 8, 1894. 

Note 12. — Wakefield Advertiser, November 8, 1894 : We quote from Rev. Richard Wake (Los 
Angeles, Cat, December 18, 1907): "Leaving England at a time of great business depression, I 
was requested by a number of friends to report on conditions here, with a view to encouraging 
emigration from England. Settling near New York, I found things not sufficiently in advance of 
England to advise removal to the states. In 1860 I removed to Illinois, and on its wide and fertile 
prairies saw opportunities full of promise to the industrious working man— and especially to the 
small farmer of England. But while I was collecting facts the civil war broke out. By the time 
the war closed the price of Illinois land had taken it out of reach of the class I had in view. I 
then visited Iowa and eastern Nebraska, reporting the result of my investigation to the Chrisitian 
World, of London, and also writing a pamphlet on the subject. In 1866 1 visited England and 
brought out a small colony to settle on government land in Otoe county, Nebraska. I had no in- 
tention of proceeding further in emigration movements, but later R. H. Drew, of London, who 
liud been directing migration to Australia, wrote, urging me to aid him and others in promoting 
<• riigration to the West. Though unwilling to further turn aside from my work in the ministry, 
J yielded, and the Wakefield settlement resulted." 



The Wakefield Colony. 9 

Wakefield, Yorkshire, was anticipating the formation of an English settle- 
ment in northern Missouri, i-' By what chain of circumstances these gentle- 
men were led to merge their respective purposes in a single plan the writer 
confesses himself uninformed. Those of their number who were in England 
seem to have realized the advisability of enlisting the services of Mr. Wake, 
and, with this in view, to have opened correspondence with him.'^ The 
correspondence at first took the form of a request for information concern- 
ing government lands in Kansas and Nebraska. '^ How the first inquiries 
developed into a colonial enterprise may best be told in Mr. Wake's own 
words : 

"Later a scheme was proposed for the purchase of a large tract of land 
for cooperative farming, and, asking my advice on the merits of the scheme 
generally, I discouraged the co'')perative feature of the plan, but was in 
favor of associative immigration on a plan which would give to each settler 
individu'^l ownership of land and absolute control of the products of his own 
labor, and proposed the plan, adopted later, of the purchase of a large tract 
of land by a few, who should sell it again in quantities to suit, at a slight 
advance over cost, to first settlers, depending upon later, sales for profit on 
the investment. Late in June, 1869, I received a cablegram saying, 'Select 
100,000 acres in Kansas for colony,' and on the 8th of July I arrived in To- 
peka on that errand. I inspected a certain reservation which had come into 
the hands of the Santa Fe company, but the price was too high. I came 
west to Junction City with a letter of introduction to Capt. A. C. Pierce. 
July 12 we took a team to view the land lying between the RepubHcan river 
and Chapman creek, taking the divide west of Junction City and following 
it to the head of Chapman creek. We saw but one house between the two 
points. The year 1869 was a fruitful one. Grass in the ravines would meet 
above the backs of the horses, and on the high land was knee high or more. 
Reaching on our return the present site of Wakefield, I thought, as I looked 
down the valley, I had never seen a more beautiful landscape. 

"Securing the withdrawal of the land from the market, I reported to 
London, and in August Messrs. Wormald, Maitland, Batchelor and others 
arrived, Messrs. Wormald and Maitland being empowered to purchase the 
land if it met their approval. "^^ ,_ 

The purchase of the land was ratified by Messrs. Wormald and Maitland 
and steps were immediately taken to organize the colony. The land that 
was purchased is thus described by Mr. Quimby. ^^ "Their tract of land 
consisted of the odd sections in the vicinity of Wakefield and held by the 
Union Pacific railroad, from whom they purchased it." On the same sub- 
ject, Mr. Wake says: "Contracts were made with the Kansas Railroad 
Company and the National Land Company for 32,000 acres at a cost of 
$102,000, one-fifth being paid down at the time of purchase." '* 

The following list of the pioneers of Wakefield was furnished by Mr. 
R. T. Batchelor: 

"The pioneer party, consisting of Messrs. Wormald, Maitland and oth- 
ers, sailed from England on the steamship Main ( North German Lloyd ) on 
August 3, 1869, and arrived in New York the 13th, reaching Junction City 
about the 21st of the month. The party included Mr. John Wormald, of 

Note 13. -J. P. Marshall. 

Note 14. — Wakefield Advertiser. November 8. 1894. 
Note 15.— Wakefield Advertiser, November 8. 1894. 
Note 16.— Wakefield Advertiser. Novembers. 1894. 
Note 17.— Wakefield Advertiser. October 25, 1894. 
Note 18.— Wakefield Advertiser, November 8, 1894. 



10 The Wakefield Colony. 

Wakefield, "iorkshire; Mr. Alexander Maitland. of London, afterwards sec- 
retary of the Kansas Land and Emigration Company and one of the direct- 
ors of the colony; Mr. Spence, the agricultural director of the proposed 
cooperative colony; Mr. R. T. Batchelor, Mrs. R. T. Batchelor and two 
children, of Fareham, Hampshire; Mr. Martin; Mr. Stone, who afterwards 
removed to Topeka; Mr. James Gibbons, the first proprietor of the "eighty " 
adjoining Wakefield on the southwest, known as the Allaway farm " 

Another member of the party was Mr. James Marshall, of New Aires- 
ford, Hampshirei He was the first business man in the town, having put 
up a carpenter's shop on the lots afterwards owned by Mr. Thomas, corner 
of E street and Second avenue. He likewise made the first filing on the land 
subsequently owned by my father, and, in partnership with James Wood- 
ward, erected many of the earliest buildings in Wakefield and vicinity. ^^ 

August 25, 1869, the founders of the colony were incorporated as the 
Kansas Land and Emigration Company, and on the following day the town 
site was formally laid out. A cairn of stones was raised on the slope of 
Cedar Bluff and in it was deposited a parchment certifying the founding of 
the town and naming the parties therein concerned. 2" The cairn stood near 
the present site of Doctor Hewitt's residence. ^i The plat-book makes the 
following statement about the beginnings of Wakefield: 

"The town was laid out by the Kansas Land and Emigration Company, 
consisting of Richard Wake, John Wormald, Alexander Maitland, Colonel 
Loomis, C. Wake, R. H. Drew and J. D. Bennett. The four first named of 
these selected the town site of Wakefield August 26, 1869. Colonel Loomis 
named the town Wakefield, partly in honor of the president of the company 
and partly because Wakefield, England, was the former home of John 
Wormald, the secretary of the company. "22 

Colonel Loomis, who named the town, was president of the National 
Land Company, and, like Rev. Richard Wake, a citizen of Hlinois. His 
connection with Wakefield was due to the fact that the English colony. ac- 
quired a part of their land from the National Land Company. ^3 On Octo- 
ber 6 the first large party of colonists arrived, and on the 12th of the same 
month the stockholders of the company met for permanent organization in 
the Hale House (now the Bartell) at Junction City.^^ The new corpora- 
tion henceforth appears as "The Kansas Land and Emigration Company, 
incorporated August 25, 1869. ' ' 

In the former edition of thig narrative it was said that Mr. Wormald in- 
vested a fortune of $72,000 in the Wakefield colony. The statement certainly 
calls for revision. As a matter of fact popular tradition does credit Mr. 
Wormald with a fortune of $72,000, but in any case that was many times 
the amount of his actual investment in the stock of the company. Since 
the original narrative was composed the following more definite information 
has been obtained: 

' ' Mr. Wormald certainly did not invest more than about $10,000 in the stock 
of the company, and I think it was only about $8000. He owned one-third of 
the stock, and, as we paid the railroad company but a little over $20,000 

Note 19.— J. P. Marshall; in addition to the above, H. S. Walter names Messrs. George Gates, 
Miller and a young man named Meek. 

Note 20. -Wakefield Herald, vol. 1. No. 3. April, 1871. 

Note 21.— W. Guy. Note 22.— Plat-book, p. 25. 

Note 23.— Wakefield Advertiser, November 8, 1894. 

Note 24. — Wakefield Advertiser, November 8, 1894. 



The Wakefield Colony. 11 

upon our contracts with them, there was never more than about $24,000 in 
the treasury from subscriptions to stock. The balance of the stock was 
subscribed "by other members of the company, Colonel Loomis bemg the 
next heaviest holder. "■^'' 

We pass now from the formation of the company to the story of the set- 
tlers whom its inducements brought out to the prairies of Kansas, 

III. -THE ENGLISH SETTLERS. 

The Kansas Land and Emigration Company aimed from the start to 
stimulate the immigration of English settlers. Popular tradition charges 
the advertising material employed with being highly colored and not wanting 
in deliberate mistatement. In his address October 10, 1894, ■•^« Mr. Quimby 
puts the matter more dispassionately : 

"To colonize their lands, their prospectuses and advertisements were cir- 
culated wholly in England, and the colonists were mostly English trades 
people from the cities, a poor class to settle up a new country." 

Yet in all fairness to the newcomers it must be said that the hardships 
of pioneer life were such as neither townsmen nor landsmen were prepared 
to meet. In many instances it was precisely the experienced English farmer 
who proved least adapted to the new conditions. He had as much to learn 
and more to unlearn than the townspeople. 

Some of the earliest English settlers came out independently of the 
company's plans. Foremost among these were Messrs. P. Gillies and H. S. 
Walter. Mr. Walter has kindly furnished the following account of his com- 
ing to Kansas : 

"I met Mr. Gillies, who had been in Junction City about two weeks, the 
day I arrived in Junction City, August 11, 1869, and the next day took up 
land in Republican township, on section 28, adjoining Doctor Burt." 

Mr. Walter also gives some additional particulars concerning the pioneers 
of the Kansas Land and Emigration Compatiy. He says : 

"The pioneer party who came August 21 consisted of R. Wake, J. Wor- 
mald Spence, Miller, Maitland, Geo. Gates, and a young man named Meek, 
all of London, England, and also Mr. Loomis, land agent, of New York. 

Messrs. Savage and Wooley were also in the neighborhood before the 
coming of the Wakefield colonists. 2' They lived in the same district and 
owned claims not far from that of Mr. Walter. 

The first large party of settlers came over on the steamship Nebraska, 
of the Guion line, sailing from Liverpool on September 15, 1869, and reach- 
ing New York on the 29th. ^^ The voyage is remembered as an exception- 
ally stormy one. 2* The party came west by way of the Great Lakes, visiting 
Niagara Falls en route, and arrived in Junction City on October 6 The 
number of persons, old and young, comprised in the Nebraska party, 
amounted to seventy-seven. 3« The following list of its members was fur- 
nished me by Messrs. John Chapman and Wm. Guy, viz.: Mr. James Bil 
lingham, Warwickshire; Mr. and Mrs. Jas. Boyce; Mr. John Farrington 

Note 25.— R. Wake. Los Angeles, January 29, 1907. 

Note 26.— Wakefield Advertiser, October 25. 1894. 

Note 27.- J. P. Marshall. Note 29.— J. Chapman. 

Note 28.- W. Guy. Note 30.- W. Guy. 



12 The Wakefield Colony. 

Alsop (eldest son of Mr, Wm. Alsop, one of the leaders of a subsequent 

party); Mr. Joseph Binns; Mr. Samuel Binns; Mrs. , a married sister 

of the two foregoing; (Mr Guy adds: "I cannot obtain the name of the 
sister of Messrs. Joseph and Samuel Binns. The latter had no family. The 
sister had two girls; the eldest died on the voyage and was buried at sea, 
it being the only death that occurred in our party of seventy-seven "^' ) Mr. 
and Mrs. Ison,^- Wolverhampton: all of whom came from the west Midlands. 
Mr. John Muston, Lincolnshire; Mr. Christopher Deere, and Mr. John Deere, 
Buckinghamshire;" Mr. H. H. Meade, West Wickham, Buckinghamshire; 
the foregoing were from the east Midlands. Mr. Wm. Guy, Sussex ( a na- 
tive of the parish of Ripe, 1833, seven miles from Lewes; proprietor of one 
of our leading business houses, and my principal informant concerning the 
early history of Wakefield); Mr. Abner Shrives, Sussex; Mr. John Chap- 
man, Somerset; (My father was a native of Montacute, in Somerset, where 
my grandfather, John Chapman, sr., and great-grandfather, Zachariah 
Chapman, were quarry owners and stone merchants, the quarry (Ham Hill) 
being leased of the Duchy of Cornwall.*) Mr. Geo. Taylor, Somerset; Mr. 
T. P. Pettigrew, Hampshire (afterwards secretary of the Wakefield Agri- 
cultural and Literary Society. He likewise officiated as lay reader in the 
early days of St. John's parish.); Mr. John Spooner and family, London. 
The foregoing all came from the south or southwest of England. 

Other members of the party were : Mr. Edward Moore, from Northum- 
berland, afterwards co-pastor of the Madura Union church; Mr. Robert 

Poppleton and family, Yorkshire; Mr. Johnson; Mr. Gwyn; 

Mr. John Cole; Mr. and Mrs. Butcher; Mr. and Mrs. James Woodward. Mr. 
Woodward was one of the first business men in Wakefield, and, in part- 
nership with James Marshall, erected many of the earliest buildings. The 
party arrived in Junction City on Wednesday, October 6, and celebrated 
their arrival by holding a religious and social gathering at the Methodist 
church, corner of Eighth and Jackson, on which occasion the Rev. Jo- 
seph Binns was one of the principal speakers. ^^ 

During the winter settlers came singly or by families. Mr. John Pett, 
from Cambridgeshire, came out as agent for Mr. Docking. He reached 
Junction City December 6, 1869, and in the following spring moved out on a 
farm southwest of Wakefield. ^^ Information concerning others who came 
during the winter is not now obtainable. 

Not many weeks passed before the English began to feel the hardships of 
pioneer life. My father, who was staying with Rev. William Todd, at 
Madura, had a severe attack of inflammatory rheumatism. No one thought 
he would recover. The Todd house, though more commodious than many 
other dwellings, was built in frontier style, the wall of roughly dressed 
stone, the woodwork of walnut or cottonwood. Here my father lay in an 
unplastered upper room, whose only ceiling was a roof of badly warped 

* "Without any new creation, and previous to his acquiring the title of Prince of Wales, the 
heir-apparent of the sovereign is Duke of Cornwall, the most ancient title of its degree in Eng- 
land."— (Larned's History for Ready Reference, vol. V, p. 3644; Dodd, Manual of Dignities, pt. 2.) 

Note 31.- Letter. Wakefield, Kan., April 3. 1907. 

Note 32.- J. G. Billingham. 

Note 33. — Historically considered, Buckinghamshire must be classed with Oxford and the 
Thames valley as a West Saxon district. — W. J. C. 

Note 34.— W. Guy. Note 35.- J. Pett. 



The Wakefield Colony. 13 

native-lumber shingles. At night he could see the blink of the stars, and 
in stormy weather the snow drifted in on his bed. To add to his danger, 
his landlady, Mrs. Todd, was at this time afflicted with a felon. Under 
these circumstances it became necessary to move him to another house. He 
was carried at the dead of winter from the Todd house to the home of Mr. 
William Streeter. Here my father was fortunate in securing a downstairs 
room, and he remained with the Streeter family until after his recovery. 

The dry continental climate, with its fitful and violent changes of tem- 
perature, proved very trying to the Enghsh settlers. Those who were here 
during the first winter recall a memorable storm that occured on the 16th of 
January, 1870.^" It was a Sunday morning, the weather delightfully mild, 
when a party of nine started for the Madura schoolhouse to attend the 
preaching services. Messrs. Billingham and Guy, a runaway midshipman 
named Broome, from Bath, England, and a Mr. Laundy ( the first proprietor 
of the Moutelle farm, in Union township ) and his son Willie were in the 
party. While the meeting was in progress the wind veered to the north 
and blew at the rate of sixty knots ^' an hour. The temperature fell very 
rapidly. Mr. Todd told his listeners that he had never seen but one storm 
equally severe, and that no one could drive a team in the face of such a 
hurricane. But those who had come from Wakefield resolved to make a 
dash for the old log house built by James Gilbert in 1859. The distance to 
be covered was a little more than two miles. Young Broome was the first 
to reach the house, but he was so benumbed with cold that he could not 
open the door. He had to wait in the tempest till others came to his as- 
sistance. 

The continual privation of pioneer life was harder to bear than its occa- 
sional sufferings. In winter a large part of one's time must be consumed 
in getting wood and water. To settlers on the high prairie this often meant 
a journey of several miles. Besides all this there was a serious economic 
drawback. The country had scarcely recovered from the effects of the civil 
war, and for many commodities one must still pay "war time" prices. 
This had much to do with the apparent failure of the colony during its 
earlier days. 

The spring of 1870 was marked by the coming of a second party of colo- 
nists. They were for the most part from Montgomeryshire, in Wales, or 
from the adjoining English county of Shropshire. The leader of the party 
was Mr. Wm. Alsop, who invested very considerable capital in the settlement 
of Wakefield. The Alsop party sailed from Liverpool in the steamship Colo- 
rado (Guion line) on Wednesday, the 6th of April, 1870.38 They set out 
from New York on Tuesday, the 19th, and reached Kansas City on the fol- 
lowing Saturday. 39 On Monday, the 25th, they were met at Junction City 
by Rev. Richard Wake. 

The following persons were members of the party :^" Mr. Wm. Alsop and 
family, county Montgomery, known at Wakefield as Mr. William Alsop of 
Caine's creek; Mr. Richard Alsop and family, county Montgomery; Mr. Ed- 
ward Jones and family, county Montgomery; Mr. T. C. Roscoe, of Uniontown 
(sec. 22), (my principal informant of the history of the Alsop party); Mr. 
S. E. Richards (proprietor of the Wakefield Cash Store); Mr. Wm. Rich- 

NOTE 36.— W. Guy. Note 37.— A knot is a nautical mile of 6087 feet. 

Note 38.- T. C. Roscoe. Note 39.— T. C. Roscoe. Note 40. - T. C. Roscoe. 



i4 The Wakefield Colony. 

ards (brother of the preceding); Mr. Thos. Newell; Mr. Thos. Woods; Mr. 
Swinbourne, Cumberland; Mr. Wm. Dalton, Warwickshire; Mr. Farmer 
(subsequently a merchant in White City); Mr. Richard Bird, Mr. Bird 
(brother of the preceding); J. W. Sampson (afterwards removed to the 
western part of the state, probably Osborne county); Mr. I. W. Thomas, 
Cornwall. Mr. A. R. Goffin, from London, also came out on the Colorado, 
although he was not a member of the Alsop party. In the earher edi- 
tion of this narrative mention was made of a Mr. Seimew (or Siemee), 
said to have come out about the same time as the Alsop party. Concerning 
this settler Mr. J. P. Marshall supplies the following information in a letter 
dated February 18, 1907 : 

"The man you write of as Siemee was here before the date you give, and 
boarded with the Todds for several months. His father was a bandmaster in 
a cavalry regiment in England and he was a player in the same. His claim 
was northwest of Wakefield. The Hanniba! schoolhouse No. 29 was built on 
his place and was the first voting precinct for this part of the county." 

In the same connection my informant says: "Mr. Moutelle and family, 
from London, were here in March, 1870; also the Cowderys, from Southamp- 
ton; both families building and living in Wakefield." 

A smaller party, consisting of Mr. Jas. Eustace, Mr. and Mrs. Jardine, 
Miss Kynaston (an aunt of the Reed brothers), Mr. Alfred Taylor (brother 
of Geo. Taylor, who came out on the Nebraska), Mrs. John Chapman, her two 
children. Miss Jennie Taylor (with Mrs. Chapman as her companion), and a 
servant girl named Harriet, also came out in April, 1870. The writer has 
the distinction of being one of the two children before mentioned. This 
party sailed on the City of Washington, one of the swiftest and best-equipped 
vessels afloat. In New York they stayed at the Astor House and found 
American travel decidedly expensive. None of them had any notion of what 
pioneer life was like. Of course, they took it for granted that America was 
an El Dorado." 

In April, 1870, Mr. Benjamin Budden, a naturalized American, came 
from Illinois. He was a native of Bridport, in Dorset, but had lived in 
America for several years. ^^ in May of the same year two brothers named 
YarroU and a young^man named John Brett, from Hastings, in Sussex, came 
to Wakefield. They lived temporarily in a "dugout" on the Geo. Taylor 
farm, southwest of Wakefield." Mr. Brett was a brother and Mr. Joseph 
YarroU the first husband of Mrs. T. C. Roscoe.^^ 

The completion of the company's store building was celebrated on the 
15th of April, 1870. On this subject Mr. Marshall makes the following 
statement : 

"April 15, 1870, being Good Friday, and the company's store building 
just finished, there was a gathering of settlers for many miles around— both 
English and American— whereat much tea and coffee, with edibles commen- 
surate, were consumed. It helped to form many acquaintances in my case 
which have lasted to this day."" 

The coming of the English colony greatly increased the number of voters 

NOTK 41.— Mrs. J. Chapman. Note 43.— W. Guy. 

Note 42.-H. W. C. Budden. Note 44.-W. Guy; R. O. Mackintosh. 

Note 45.-Letter. Wakefield, February 18, 1907. 



The Wakefield Colony. 15 

in Clay county, as the following quotation from page 15 of the Plat-book 
will show : 

"The number of votes cast in 1866 was 112; in 1867, 155; in 1868, 196; in 
1869, 232; in 1870, 482; in 1871, 1003; in 1872, 955; in 1873. 1158. . . . 
The number of votes cast in 1880 was 2672." 

In the year 1870 Kansas suffered from a severe drought.^" Those who 
are familiar with the clear, cloudless sky of a Kansas midsummer can imag- 
ine how this affected the newcomers, accustomed as they were to the humid 
atmosphere of England. In 1869 vegetation had been exceedingly luxuri- 
ant. Now every condition was reversed. Crops were an almost total 
failure and garden plants withered where they grew. The experience of 
the settlers seemed in almost every respect to belie the glowing reports that 
had lured them to the far West. On every side they murmured against the 
founders of the colony as the Israelites of old did against Moses and Aaron. 
Mr. Wake was especially blamed. They charged him with being the author 
of their calamities. Some years later Mr. Alexander Maitland, the secre- 
tary of the Kansas Land and Emigration Company, revisited Great Britain, 
and during his absence the man whom he had left in charge of his property 
pillaged the house and tossed his papers and correspondence out of doors. 
After this high-handed proceeding the culprit fled to Missouri.^" About the 
year 1870 Mr. James Eustace also returned to England for the purpose of 
organizing another party of settlers. ^^ But in spite of the most strenuous 
efforts on the part of the Kansas Land and Emigration Company the tide of 
immigration was checked.''*' 

IV. -THE ORGANIZATION OF THE COLONY. so 

The Wakefield colony was remarkable for the number and variety of its 
"organizations." The most important of these were the Kansas Land and 
Emigration Company, the Wakefield Bridge and Ferry Company, the Ag- 
ricultural and Literary Society, and the Wakefield General Market Com- 
pany. The settlement also boasted a newspaper— the Wakefield Herald, 
printed at the Union office, in Junction City. Much difference of opinion 
exists as to the original name of the Wakefield paper. My father thmks 
that it was called The Star of Empire. Others are equally positive that 
from the beginning it was called the Wakefield Herald. A publication 
called The Star of Empire certainly did exist, a copy having formerly- 
been in my possession, but it may have been simply a prospectus printed 
and circulated in England. . It was printed in newspaper form and bore 
the well-known motto from Bishop Berkeley, "Westward the star of em- 
pire takes its way." Perhaps the most likely interpretation will be to 
suppose that the publication referred to was issued by some other firm 
than the Kansas Land and Emigration Company. This is known to have 

Note 46.— Wakefield Advertiser. November 8. 1894. 

Note 47.-H. W. C. Budden. 

Note 48.-Cf. Wakefield Herald, vol. 1. No. 3, April, 1871. 

Note 49. — Wakefield Advertiser, November 8, 1894. Rev. Richard Wake thinks that Mr. 
Maitland's visit to Great Britain must have been later than 1870. and that it was unconnected 
with the aflfairs of the company. — ( Letter from Los Angeles. Cal.. December 18, 1907. ) 

Note 50.— The information contained in this section is to a great extent drawn from the copy 
Of the Wakefield Herald now in the possession of Mrs. William Sparrowhawk. 



16 The Wakefield Colony. 

been the case with regard to the maps and prospectuses with which intend- 
ing settlers were supplied at Junction City. 

The original plan of the founders was to engage in cooperative farming 
on a large scale. Mr. Spence, of whom mention has previously been made, 
was to have been agricultural director for the entire colony. This scheme 
was not approved of by Mr. Wake, who urged in opposition thereto the 
merits of a plan which would "give each settler individual ownership of 
land and absolute control of the products of his own labor.''^' The coopera- 
tive system was never put into practice at Wakefield, but instead the direct- 
ors agreed to adopt Mr. Wake's idea of associative immigration. It was 
this new plan which found expression in a number of voluntary associations, 
each designed to promote in some way the welfare of the community. 
Another feature in the organization of the colony, and which was likewise 
due to Mr. Wake, was the insertion of a prohibitory clause in all title-deeds 
to town property. 

As regards the societies or corporations previously enumerated, the fol- 
lowing items of information may be found in the Wakefield Herald, vol. 1, 
No. 3. April, 1871 : 

(1) The Kansas Land and Emigration Company, incorporated August 25. 
1869. General office, Wakefield, Kan., branch oflJice, corner Tenth and 
Washington streets. Junction City. Directors: John Wormald, Alexander 
Maitland, Richard Wake, Wakefield; J. W. Bennett, John Brown, Morris. 
Ill ; Harry D'Oyle, London, England; R. H. Drew, Sydenham, England. 
Officers: R. Wake, president; A. Maitland, secretary; J. Wormald, treas- 
urer. Agents: Charles Wake, Junction City; Robert H. Drew, 2 Gresham 
building, Basinghall street, London, E. C. ; John Miller, 13 Godliman street, 
London, England. 

(2) The Wakefield Ferry and Bridge Company, incorporated May 30, 1870. 
President, James Eustace; ferryman, William Guy. 

(3) The Agricultural and Literary Society. This organization was one 
of the most characteristic features of the colony, and its proceedings occupy 
considerable space in the columns of the Wakefield Herald. From the issue 
previously cited we take the following announcement: 

"Agricultural and Literary Society. Every Wednesday evening, seven 
o'clock, at the hall. President, J. E. Burton; vice-president. R. Wake; 
secretary, T. P. Pettigrew; treasurer, J. Eustace; executive committee, Alex. 
Maitland, W. Eustace, C.Ingram, J. B. Quimby, R. N. Cowdery." 

Of the recorded proceedings of the society we note the following: 

"Wakefield, January 25, 1871. Poorly att^ided; general conversation. 

"February 1. Dairy Farming, Rev. R. Wake. 

"February 8. Tree Culture, Mr. Gray. 

"February 14. Economy on the Farm, Mr. T. North. 

' ' February 22. A discussion was held on the question of building a bridge 
on the Republican river at Clay Center. Messrs. J. W. Burton and others 
spoke against the proposition to issue county bonds to the amount of $25,000 
to build the bridge. It was also stated that a bridge will be built at Wake- 
field for one-half the sum, which would be a greater convenience to a larger 
part of the country than one at Clay Center. 

"March 1. Committee on public roads recommended che opening of roads 
(on various section hues in the vicinity of Wakefield. 

"March 8. J. B. Quimby, Esq.. gave an address on 'Opening a Farm.' 
In accordance with a vote of the society this address was printed in full m 
the April number of the Wakefield Herald. (T. P. Pettigrew secretary.)" 

Note 51.— Wakefield Advertiser. November 8. 1894. 



The Wakefield Colony. 17 

(5) The Wakefield General Market Company. In the spring of 1871 the 
establishment of a monthly live-stock market was proposed by Messrs. Wil- 
liam Alsop, of Caine's creek, and John Chapman, of Wakefield. The Wake- 
field Herald thus announces the formation of the new company: 

"We are pleased to be able to announce the opening of a monthly market 
at Wakefield for the sale of cattle and all kinds of live stock." 

Organization: President, William Alsop; secretary, R. Wake; treasurer, 
J. B. Quimby; directors, W. Alsop, J. Chapman, E. Jones, J. B. Quimby, 
C. Fullington, R. Wake, and A. Maitland. 

At the time of the publication of the April issue of the Wakefield Herald 
the market square was being enclosed with a board fence. 

CHURCHES, , 

While the various organizations pertaining to the Wakefield colony are 
under consideration, it will be fitting to give some account of the churches. 

The Methodist Episcopal church, under the pastorate of Rev. R. Wake, 
met in the public hall at Wakefield. The building was situated near the 
northwest corner of the old market square, on the west side. The first 
Sunday school superintendent was Mr. James Dodson, who also held the 
office of county superintendent of public instruction, s- He still resides at 
Wakefield as its oldest inhabitant. 

In his address at the old settlers' reunion, October 10, 1894, Mr. Wake 
gave the following particulars : 

"In May, 1870, I organized a Methodist church in the room over the store 
building, then just erected, and preached twice each Sunday until the fol- 
lowing March. A Sunday-school was organized, with J. S. Dodson as super- 
intendent. The following year other preachers, Messrs. Eustace, Mullis 
and Thompson, assisted in supplying the pulpit, and churches were organ- 
ized at Exeter and Alida, and a circuit formed reaching up the river to 
Riverhead, opposite Clifton, and west to OakhilL^s 

The Union church, with Rev. Wm. Todd and Rev. Edward Moore as co- 
pastors, worshiped in schoolhouse No. 8, at Madura. ^^ 

In the early days of the settlement Mr. Todd preached at the home of 
Moses Younkins, on Timber creek. ^^ In 1868 the old schoolhouse at Ma- 
dura, perpetuating the name of his former mission field in South India, be- 
came the center of his labors. The Madura church was afterward affiliated 
with the Congregational body, and when the new building was erected in 
Wakefield the name of "Madura Congregational Church" was retained. 

The services of the Episcopal church were first held at the home of Mrs. 
Pearson, on section 8, in Gill township, in the spring of 1871. Mr. T. P. 
Pettigrew usually oflSciated as lay-reader. 

"During 1871," writes Mr. J. P. Marshall, "funds were collected in 
Wakefield and vicinity, as well as in England and at Baltimore, to erect a 
stone church on the northeast corner of section 3, township 10, range 3 east. 
Mr. Charles Ingram donated five acres on section 3 and five acres on section 
2 for church, rectory, graveyard and glebe. The building had progressed 

Note 52.— J. Chapman. 

Note 53.— Wakefield Advertiser, November 8. 1894. 

Note 54.— Wakefield Herald, vol. 1. No. 3 ; Wakefield Advertiser, October 25. 1894. 

Note 55.— G. W. Southwick, in the Wakefield Advertiser, November 5, 1897 (Santa Barbara. 
Cal., October 5. 1897.) 



18 The Wake field Colony. 

to the shingling of the roof when, in July, 1872, the first tornado experienced 
by the newcomers leveled it to the ground." =» 

The destruction of the church building by the tornado of July, 1872— in the 
nature of the case a serious disaster— may perhaps account for the state- 
ment in the Plat-book that the first vestry meeting was held on October 14, 
1874. Rev. H. H. Hickox, who was then rector, is mentioned in Wilder's 
Annals of Kansas in connection with relief delivered to sufferers from the 
grasshopper scourge of 1874-'75. The present church building at St. John's, 
on the site presented by Mr. Charles Ingram, was dedicated in the spring of 
1876.5" 

The Baptist church at Uniondale, northwest of Wakefield, was organized 
May 6, 1873. To this congregation belonged several families from the south- 
east of England, particularly the Cowells and Yarrows, from Henham, near 
Saffron Walden (County Essex). ^8 Another pioneer of this community was 
William Kynaston, who came out from England in April, 1871. He was one 
of the charter members of the church.'^'-' 

A few words may be added concerning the town site of Wakefield as it 
was in the early days of the English settlement. The town lies in the angle 
between two bluffs, one of which, facing eastward, overlooks the river; the 
other, extending toward the south, marks the point at which a small creek 
flows out into the river valley. The outward slope of the northern ridge, 
known as Cedar Bluff, is almost precipitous and clothed with a fairly dense 
growth of timber. The eastern brow of Cedar Bluff affords an extensive 
view. An engraving, which occurs in the Plat-book, professes to give some 
idea of Wakefield as it appeared at the close of its first decade. This, how- 
ever, does not add much to our knowledge. Few of the details are recogniz- 
able, and the perspective is badly distorted. When the Enghsh settlers 
came, in 1869, the only dwelling north of the creek was the house built by 
James Gilbert, some ten years earlier. Its position is described as follows: 
"The old log house was just south of Mr. Lumb's present home. Depression 
of cellar is still visible in Une with E street south of the city limits.""" 

With the influx of settlers in 1869, building operations at once began. 
Messrs. Marshall and Woodward put up the company's office and the store 
and public hall, both on the west side of the old market square. On the 
sections adjoining Wakefield on the west, dwellings were built in 1869 by 
James Gibbons, J. G. Billingham, and T. P. Pettigrew.s^ My father's house 
was built early in 1870. The first dwellings in town were those of Benjamin 
Moutelle, on Third avenue (now owned by Mrs. Shafner), and R. E. Cow- 
dery, corner of Fourth avenue and D street. ^2 Of the two earliest dwellings 

Note 56.- J. P. Marshall. Wakefield, August 4, 1907. 

Note 57.— Plat-book, p. 19. Note 58.- J. G. Cowell, January 25. 1908. 

Note 59.— "The organization of the Uniondale church was [effected] May 6. 1873. Charter 
members were: Wm. Kynaston, Mary Yarrow. Amelia Randall, Arthur Rothwell. Jasper 
Cowell was ordained as first pastor of the church, August 14. 1877."— (T. Cowell, February 4, 
1908.) 

Note 60.— J. P. Marshall. Note 61.— J. G. Billingham. 

Note 62.— Listof earliest buildings in Wakefield, revised by Messrs. J. P. Marshall and W. E. 
Lumb : Office of company ( Spooner building ) . 1869, block 64, D street ; company's store, February. 
1870, block 64, D street ; Moutelle House, Third avenue, first dwelling built : Cowdery's house, 1870 
(now part of Humbert's house), blocK 46, corner Fourth and D streets : Gillett's (now Alsop's), 
built by Porter, block 36, corner G street and Fifth avenue ; Rev. R. Wake's ( F. Dodson's shop ), 
1870, block 54, corner D street and Third avenue ; Eustace's house, 1870, block 48, corner B street 
and Fourth avenue; Thomas's house, 1870, block 48, B street: Adamson's (now Batchelor's), 



The Wakefield Colomj. 19 

on the ridge of the west bluff, that erected by Messrs. John and Paul Guard 
(G street near Fourth avenue), was afterwards blown away by a tornado. 
On the block just north of this stands the house built by S. B. Porter, but 
shortly after occupied by Mr. Gillett. Rev. Richard Wake's house, corner 
of D street and Third avenue, was built in 1870. This house, according to 
another source, was subsequently occupied by Thomas Goosey. His son died 
here, and was buried on their farm in Gill township. The Pioneer Hotel was 
built in 1870, and the old schoolhouse in 1873. Business life gathered about 
the company's store at the northwest corner of the market square. The 
upstairs room, known as the "hall," in which the Methodist Episcopal 
church worshiped on Sunday, and where the discussions of the Literary and 
Agricultural Society were held on Wednesday evenings, was likewise a 
center for social gatherings. The entrance was by an exterior stairway at 
the back of the building. For the writer, some of childhood's earliest recol- 
lections are associated with the Sunday service or other gatherings held in 
the public hall. Of the business affairs of the colony a partial estimate can 
be drawn from the columns of the Wakefield Herald.^'^ Mr. Alex. Maitland 
appears among the professional men,* and we observe that the company 
offers 22,000 acres of land for sale. About the same time Mr. Gillett was 
prominent as a cattleman,! and so likewise was Henry Buckle, the agent for 
Mr. Clinch, of Witney. The establishment of the monthly market was in- 
tended to stimulate the cattle trade. 

At Junction City the settlers came in touch with the affairs of the wider 
world. During the autumn and winter of 1870-'71, the war between France 
and Germany was in progress,**^ and those of the Wakefield colony whom 
business called to the city were struck with the interest which our German 
fellow citizens took in the conflict. 

With the opening of the RepubHcan Valley branch of the Union Pacific 
railroad the first stage in the development of Wakefield draws to a close. 
Two years earlier the materials for the building of my father's house had 
been hauled by ox-team from Junction City. Prices were high in Junction, 
and with the additional cost of transportation almost prohibitive. The rail- 
road was opened in 1872, when Charles Wake received the position of station- 
master. Geo. Taylor, a member of the Nebraska party, was the first 
mail-carrier. 

v.— COLONISTS FROM THE UPPER THAMES VALLEY. 

In spite of the severe check which the stream of immigration received 
m the year 1870, it subsequently underwent a partial revival. The Wake- 
field Herald thus notices the coming of the next large party of settlers: 

"We learn that James Eustace will leave England for Wakefield on the 

1870, block 49, comer B street and Fourth avenue ; Paul and John Guard, 1870. block 43. G street, 
"wrecked by the cyclone"; Pioneer Hotel, 1870, block 63, E street: E. Jones. 1870, and R. Al- 
sop's, 1870, both on First avenue, block 79 ; Jardine's house (now Moutrie's ), 1871 ; David Haden's 
house and shop, 1871. block 74, E street ; schoolhouse, 1873, block 56, E street. 

Note 63. —List of business advertisements : Dry-groods and groceries, Budden and Margetts ; 
butchers, Alsop & Jones : blacksmith, David Haden ; boot and shoemaker, J. Moutelle ; carpen- 
ters and builders, James Dodson & Sons, B. F. Jevons ; painters and glaziers. James South, J. 
Spooner; bricklayer and plasterer, John Chambers; tailor and cutter, (Isaiah) Jevons; lime 
burners, Harris & Downing ; teamsters, J. Haden, A. Shrives, E. Dodson, and S. B. Porter ; 
Pioneer Hotel, W. C. Thompson. — ( Wakefield Herald. April, 1871, Mrs. Wm. Sparrowhawk). 

* Postmaster and notary public— Mrs. Isabella Maitland (Seattle, Wash.) 

tJ. P. Marshall. Wakefield, February 18, 1907. 

Note 64. — Battle of Weissenburg, August 4, 1870 ; capitulation of Paris, January 28, 1871. 



20' The Wakefield Colony. 

5th of April, accompanied by a large party of English agriculturists, whom 
he has prevailed upon to remove to the broad prairies of Kansas. Golden 
opportunities await them here."*^ 

It was, perhaps, the business relations that existed between some of the 
Oxfordshire colonists and George Grant, esq., the founder of the English 
colony at Victoria, Ellis county, that led Noble L. Prentis to place the be- 
ginning of Wakefield in 1871. In his History of Kansas, page 146, he says: 

"In 1871 the Kansas Pacific sold to the Swedish colony, in Saline county, 
22,000 acres; to an English colony in Clay county, 32,000 acres; and to a 
Welsh colony, in Riley county, 19,000 acres. In 1873. George Grant, of 
England, purchased of the Kansas Pacific Company 50,000 acres in the east- 
ern portion of Ellis county, with the design of colonizing English people of 
means." 

So far as the date is concerned, the historian is evidently mistaken, for 
at the time spoken of the English colony in Clay county had been in exist- 
ence very nearly two years. The efforts made in 1871 to retrieve the for- 
tunes of the Wakefield colony brought it more prominently before the public 
eye, and may, not unnaturally, have created the impression that it originated 
at that time. 

The first party belonging to the new stream of immigration we shall term 
the "Sparrowhawk party," Mr. Robert Sparrowhawk being one of its lead- 
ing members. The Wakefield Herald, as we have seen, states that it was 
conducted by James Eustace, esq. , and fixes the date of its departure from 
England on April 5, 1871. Mr. Eustace, it will be remembered, came out on 
the City of Washington in 1870, and had in the meantime revisited England. 

The names of the following persons belonging to the Sparrowhawk party 
were furnished by Mr. E. R. Hawes and Mrs. Wm. Sparrowhawk: Mr. and 
Mrs. R. Sparrowhawk and family, from Aston under Wychwood, Oxford- 
shire; Mr. and Mrs. Tilbury and family (Mr. Tilbury afterwards returned 
to England and was a curate at Exeter) ; Mr. and Mrs. Shirley and family; 
Mr. and Mrs. E. R. Hawes (settled on the Geo. Taylor farm; are now living 
in Wakefield. Mr. Hawes is one of my informants concerning the party of 
which he was a member); Mr. and Mrs. Cox and family; Mr. and Mrs. 
James Loader and family; Mr. Geo. Bettridge; Mr. Herman Walter; Mr. 
William Thurlow; Mr. Richard Jones (brother of Mrs. James Loader); Mr. 
and Mrs. Arkell and family; Mr. and Mrs. Parsons; Mrs. Wightman (lived 
just east of Tom Keller's place). 

Most of these came from Oxfordshire and adjoining counties, the streams 
of which flow into the Thames, and may therefore be described as settlers 
from the Upper Thames valley. 

Among those who came from Oxfordshire about this time were the 
Clinches. Their names were Harold, Charles and Duncan Clinch. The two 
first named were sons, the third a nephew, of a wealthy brewer in Witney 
on the Windrush.8« Witney, so the local saying afiirms, is famed for four 
B's— "beauty, bread, beer, and blankets." During their stay at Wakefield 
Messrs. Charles and Harold Clinch engaged in sheep and cattle raising. 
Their father supplied them with ample capital for the enterprise— not less 
than forty or fifty thousand dollars, it is said. In addition, Duncan Clinch 
received an allowance of seventy-five dollars a month from his father."' 

Note 65. -Wakefield Herald, vol. 1. No. 3, April, 1871. 

Note 66.— E. Eustace, T. Beldham. Note 67.-T. Beldham. 



The Wakefield Colony. 21 

Frank Harris, an experienced shepherd, was commissioned to bring out 
some sixty-five or seventy pure-blooded sheep of the best English breeds. 
The Clinches also imported several head of choice cattle and two Clydesdale 
stallions that subsequently took the premium at the Topeka state fair."** 
The management of the enterprise, perhaps on account of the youth and in- 
experience of the Clinch boys, was in the hands of Henry Buckle. He came 
out with them as agent for Mr. Clinch, sr., and took up a claim on the 
southwest quarter of section 24, in Gill township, and there the members of 
the party lived for at least two years. »« It was his early death that threw 
all into confusion. Henry Buckle died suddenly at Wamego while en route 
with a herd of cattle from Missouri, and the right of homestead passed to 
his father. Accordingly Mr. Buckle, sr., came out to Kansas, bringing with 
him the remaining members of his household,^" and the Clinches moved the 
stock to the place now owned by Richardson, adjoining Ed. Southwick's on the 
north. When the Buckle family took possession of the claim on section 24, Gill 
township, the Clinch boys made their headquarters nearer Wakefield. They 
kept "bachelors' hall" at the Haynes farm, which at that time was the prop- 
erty of Mr. Lewinton Howse."' But in spite of abundant means the young 
men did not adapt themselves to pioneer life. Their domestic arrangements 
and housekeeping are said to have resembled those of primitive man, and 
many anecdotes are told of their father's disgust when he visited Wakefield. 

Among other settlers from Oxfordshire were H. B. Jones, afterwards a 
druggist at Industry, Kan.'^ Mr. Thomas Irons is said to have come from 
the same county. Messrs. Cumber and ( Charles ) Harris, who held claims 
on the south halves of sections 26 and 22 respectively, in Gill township, were 
also Oxfordshire people." The Buckle family, to whom reference has al- 
ready been made, were from Chawbury, in Wychwood (Oxfordshire), hav- 
ing lived on a farm that had been cleared under the disafforesting act."^ 
The family consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Buckle, three sons (Ted, Will and 
Charley) and two or three daughters, one of whom married Rev. J. H. 
Young, an Episcopal clergyman." The Buckle homestead was that pre- 
viously occupied by the Clinches, but a claim was also taken up by E. T. 
Buckle, one of the sons, on the south half of the northeast quarter of sec- 
tion 26,"" in the same township. Rev. J. H. Young lived on the south half, 
on the farm now owned by my brother, Mr. Herbert Chapman. 

It was about this time that George Grant, esq., was engaged in founding 
the English colony at Victoria, Ellis county." The settlement was planned 
on a much greater scale than the Wakefield colony. Mr. Grant purchased 

Note 68. -T. Beldham. 

Note 69.-J. P. Marshall (Wakefield, February 18, 1907). 

Note 70. -J. P. Marshall (Wakefield, September 31. 1906). 

Note 71.— Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Lumb. T. Beldham. 

Note 72.— Plat-book, p. 21. ( H. Bateman Jones, M. D.) 

Note 73. — W. Guy; the second Marshall map, section 26, township 10, range 3, section 22, 
township 10, range 3. 

Note 74.— E. Eustace. Note 75.— W. Guy. 

NOTE76.-J. P. Marshall (Wakefield. September 31. 1906). 

Note 77. — "May 6, 1873, Geo. Grant imports stock for a 60,000-acre farm at Victoria, Ellis 
county."— (Wilder's Annals of Kansas.) 



22 The Wakefield Colony. 

50,000 acres of land and erected the railway station and hotel, as well as a 
church, at his. own expense. 

"He proceeded," says Mr. R. T. Batchelor, "to arrange with the Kan- 
sas Pacific Railroad Company for the erection of a fine two-story stone 
building on the right of way, consisting of thirteen rooms, part to be used 
as a depot and the remainder as an hotel. After concluding these and other 
arrangements, such as building fences, shelter for stock, etc., Mr. Grant 
returned to his home and proceeded to perfect his arrangements for the 
transportation of his fellow colonists. He very soon had everything in train 
for the accomplishment of his cherished hopes, and impressed all with whom 
he came in contact with his business ability and his attention to every de- 
tail. A few of the best breeds of sheep, a bunch of the finest Short-horn 
cattle and some full-blood draft horses were soon purchased and on the way. 
As there had been no possibility of providing feed at their destination, they 
were consigned to Wakefield and were wintered on the farm now owned by 
Mr Richardson, but known at the time as Chill creek. Mr. Grant was soon 
surrounded by quite a number of wealthy men, many of them connected 
with the aristocracy of England and Scotland, who purchased large tracts of 
land and brought in thousands of sheep. "'^ 

In the meantime matters went from bad to worse at Chill creek. The 
Clinch brothers ran up bills from $100 to $150 a year for tobacco and similar 
luxuries, and the ranch proved anything but a success. At length Mr. 
Clinch, senior, decided to come out and see things for himself. He was 
thoroughly incensed at his sons' slipshod ways, and after satisfying himself 
that the enterprise would not succeed, he sold out and took his sons and 
nephew back to England."" The flock of sheep were disposed of to George 
Grant, then engaged in founding the English colony at Victoria. »" While 
Mr. Clinch was in Wakefield a cattle show was held at which he presided as 
judge. In this capacity he awarded the prize of a silver cup, for the best 
bull shown, to the Gifford brothers of Hillside, ^i Mr. Clinch had already 
sold out and returned to England when Mr. Edwin Eustace visited Ellis 
county in the spring of 1874. 

The events just related may be said to close the first chapter in the his- 
tory of Wakefield. The colony rapidly lost its associative character. The 
monthly market was early discontinued, and one by one the remaining cor- 
porations, including the Kansas Land and Emigration Company, passed out 
of existence. The following account of the financial history of the Kansas 
Land and Emigration Company has been furnished by Rev. Richard Wake : 

" When by reason of the drought of 1870 and the short-crop years follow- 
ing, we were unable to carry the enterprise through— and so surrendered our 
contract to the railroad company— it was currently reported that the com- 
pany had made deeds to various parties and failed to make their title secure. 
This was in no case true where purchaser took quarter-sections, as in every 

Note 78.— R. T. Batchelor. in Wakefield Advertiser, vol. 10. No. 29. January 21, 1898. 

Note 79.— T. Beldham ; Mr. and Mrs. Lumb. 

Note 80. — E. Eustace, J. P. Marshall. "My recollection is," adds Mr, Marshall, "that Mr, 
Clinch, sr., met Mr. Grant (the proprietor of the Victoria colony) here in Kansas, and when he 
(Mr. C. ) had decided to return to England made a sale of all his blooded stock to him. The 
Clinches did not stay long at the Quimby creek place, and when they left the stock was looked 
after by a nephew of Mr. Grant, 'Aleck ' Grant. The whole business was a wretched waste of 
money, both with the Clinches and the Victoria colonists, resulting from an utter lack of knowl- 
edge of the country and its possibilities at that time." 

Note 81. -H. W. C. Budden. 



The Wakefield Colony. 



23 




24 The Wakefield Colony. 

such instance the railroad company was paid in full and the title made good. 
But there were a few cases— three or four— in which we had deeded eighty- 
acre lots informing the parties that we had not perfected title, and could 
not immediately do so, because the railroad company refused to make deeds 
for less than the number of acres described in the original contract. And as 
we could not pay for and hold the additional eighty acres, we offered to pay 
back the money, which, after some delay, we did. I myself indorsed the 
company's notes personally, ultimately making full settlement. 

■' The fact that none of our purchasers lost by our failure did not gain as 
rapid currency as the report that we had defrauded those who had trusted 
us. The old proverb that 'a lie will travel a league while truth is putting 
on his boots,' was illustrated in our experience. I may say also that not all 
our shareholders lost all their investments. Messrs. Brown and Rose, of 
Illinois, surrendered shares for land, and Mr. Wormald did likewise. Some 
of us who held on to the end did not have as good opportunity to make our- 
selves whole. But v^e came out of it with a large amount of experience. " 

Several later settlers came from Shropshire, followed in the course of 
the Alsop party. Messrs. Benjamin Adams, William Kynaston, and Ralph 
Fowles, sailed from Liverpool on April 1, 1871, and landed in New York after 
a nine days voyage. The two former settled in Union township. Mrs. 
Adams came out in the following August. ^2 A number of colonists came to 
the vicinity of Wakefield under the influence of the Kansas Land and Emi- 
gration Company but without connecting themselves with the Wakefield 
colony. The Rundles and Winsors came to Junction City and took up claims 
in Dickinson county. Those of the Wakefield colonists, the time of whose 
coming is not definitely ascertained, will be noticed at greater length in the 
following account of the distribution and location of the settlers. 

VI. -THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE EARLY SETTLERS. 

[Remark.— The following notation will be employed to define the situation of farms belong- 
ing to the settlers mentioned. Fractional expressions will be used to denote the subdivisions 
both of sections and quarter-sections; thus, SV2 of NE^/4 of sec. 26 is to be read "the south half 
of the northeast quarter of section 26."] 

In describing the distribution of the Wakefield colonists, the writer will 
be guided chiefly by the second Marshall map on page 503 of this article. 
Many incidents of a descriptive nature, as well as many particulars con- 
cerning the settlers themselves, have been furnished by M. William Guy, of 
Wakefield. The map, to which reference has already been made, was drawn 
by Mr. J. P. Marshall about the year 1874. The area which it described is 
bounded on the east by the line running between sections 4 and 5 (33-32) 
in Republican township, and on the west by the second section-line in Athel- 
stane township. It includes, therefore, the whole of township 10, range 3 
east (Gill township), and parts of the townships adjoining it on the east and 
west respectively. The town site of Wakefield, lying mainly in section 5, 
township 10, range 4 east, occupies the upper right-hand corner of the map, 

THE AMERICAN SETTLERS. 

'Our -survey of the district occupied by the American settlers will begin 
with section 8. The proprietors of the northwest quarter of this section 
were Messrs. Gilbert and Streeter. They were Americans, and had taken 
up their claims before the coming of the English colonists. Mr. Ed. South- 
wick, the owner of Slg of SEI4, was the nephew of Rev. William Todd,"^ of 

Note 82.— Mrs. B. Adams. 

Note 83.— Rev. William Todd was born at Marcellus, Onondaga county. New York. March 
8, 1801. He graduated in 1821 from Hamilton College, and entered the Theological Seminary at 



The Wakefield Coloyiy. 25 

Madura. The occupants of the north half of the section will be mentioned 
in our account of the English settlers. The SW^ j of section 8 was owned 
by the State Agricultural College, established at Manhattan in 1863, and re- 
organized in 1873. 

On section 17, the S'i was owned by Mr. J. B. Quimby and the NEI4 by 
Mr. W. E. Payne (N^.s) and Rev. Wm. Todd (S^O- The Todd house is 
still standing and is a typical representative of the better class of pioneer 
dwellings. The deep-set windows, the wood-work of native walnut lumber, 
the rooms long and low, all characterize the dwelling as unlike anything 
erected since the coming of the railroad. School district No. 8, and subse- 
quently the church organized there, derived their name from the fact of Mr. 
Todd having been a missionary at Madura, in India. 

"It makes me realize the flight of time" writes Mr. G. W. Southwick, 
' ' to look back about forty years when as a small boy in the city of Leaven- 
worth I watched the purchase of an ox-team and wagon loaded with stores 
for the new home in Clay county. Driving cattle was a new business to the 
home missionary, Uncle Todd, and the trip of 150 miles was a novel one to 
his wife, Aunt Ruth.* It was the time of exceptional spring winds, when 
tumbleweeds were numerous and on the go all day, which gave a weird ap- 
pearance to the landscape of what seemed illimitable prairie, and caused a 
little homesick feeling to touch the company. There were many things to 
learn about ox-driving. After suffering sundry tricks, with years of expe- 
rience we learned that it was best not to get out on the 'off side' — but we 
did not know it on this first trip. Of those who took us into their homes 
and made us welcome, many have crossed the ' boundless river. ' We re- 
member the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Fullington, who proved the congenial 
friends of the family for many years, [and] the good-hearted, whole-souled 
Moses Younkin, who waded the river and got the log canoe to transport the 
preacher across. Think of it ! For months we traveled with our ox-team 

Auburn. In 1820 he married Miss Lucy Brownell. In June, 1833, Mr. Todd and wife went to 
India as missionaries under the American Board. He lost his wife and married the widow of a 
brother missionary named Woodward In February, 1839, ill health compelled him to return to 
America. He preached at various points in New York and Pennsylvania until 1858, when his 
adopted children, J. B. Quimby and W. E. Payne and families, concluded to settle in Kansas, and 
he came with them. He had a third wife, named Ruth S.. a delightful woman, who shared with 
him his pioneering in Kansas. Mr. Todd died August 10, 1874, and Mrs. Ruth S. Todd died in 
Chicago during the World's Fair. Mrs. Ruth S. Todd, in 1874. prepared and published an exten- 
sive sketch of her husband, but did not mention herself. Geo. W. Martin, then editor of the 
Junction City Union, paid the following tribute to Mr. Todd : 

"In the fall of 1861. learning that there was no preaching in Junction City, Mr. Todd left hi- 
farm on the Republican, and came to town, accompanied by his wife, who shared his self-sacris 
ficing. missionary spirit. The difficulties of that day, in the absence of the support of Him who 
feeds the ravens, would have been simply overwhelming. Mr. Todd preached the Word during 
the years 1862 and 1863 practically without salary, putting an absolute faith in God for his food. 
And yet while, commercially speaking, he had nothing to get it with, and no hope that he would 
have anything with which to get it, food was always provided. The absence of anything in the 
house to eat did not in the slightest daunt the old man's spirit. He arrived in town with sixty 
dollars in gold in his pocket. He exhausted that and such as he could raise by chopping wood 
and doing stone work. He gave himself no thought about hardships. He was then feeble, hav- 
ing lost his health in India, but with the same inspiration, which forty years before had led him 
to that foreign field, he labored in this frontier post, while the least possible strength lasted, with 
great zeal, earnestness, and success. As a man Mr. Todd was without hypocrisy or dissem- 
bling. Hisactionsandhis words were universally accepted as the very height of sincerity. There 
was no such element in him as self. He was a man of vigorous intellect, and an earnest and 
effective public speaker. His sermons were full of thought and originality, and very peculiar in 
their simplicity. He talked as though his hearers were children, and the love of Jesus was the 
absorbing element of his religion and his ministrations. On two sides of the globe this simple, 
honest, earnest-hearted, godly man, though dead, yet speaketh, and in the ages_to come, wliile 
the conflict with sin lasts or a heart beats, his impress will be found." 

*Mrs. Ruth S. Todd was a lady of exceptional culture, and, like her husband, took a life-long 
interest in missions. The writer was frequently the guest (1884-'92) of the family circle at the 
Todd homestead, and remembers with pleasure the fact that Mrs Todd encouraged his earliest 
efforts in the field of history. 



26 The Wakefield Colony. 

every Sunday to Mr. Younkin's hospitable house, where Uncle Todd held 
service, and the singing— to my boyish taste this was the most edifying part 
of the worship— was led by Mr. Gill."^* 

Mr. J. B. Quimby, who settled in Republican township in 1857, owned 
the S^o of sec. 17, and, subsequently, also NWI4 of sec. 20. From him 
Quimby Creek derives its name. 

The Ei.< of SE,!^ of sec. 20 was owned by Doctor Burt, who had been an 
army surgeon in the civil war. The doctor and his wife {nee Locke), were 
both of old colonial descent. 

"Dr. Asahel Burt, jr., was born in Vermont, September 28, 1828, where 
his early days were spent upon a farm. When sixteen years old he ran away 
from home and joined a whaling vessel, in which he served three years, 
going to all parts of the globe." He was married in New York to Mary S. 
Locke on November 28, 1850. Becoming acquainted with Dr. J. V. P. Quack- 
enbush, afterwards surgeon-general of the state of New York, he entered 
the Albany Medical College, where he graduated with the degree of M. D. 
"He entered the army as assistant surgeon of the One Hundred and Thirty- 
ninth New York volunteer infantry, and after about a year was made full 
surgeon, and was mustered out as such with his regiment at the close of the 
war. During his army life he was surgeon-in-chief of his brigade, served 
on several boards of examination, served in the general hospital at Hamp- 
ton, Va., and in the field hospitals of the Tenth, Eighteenth and Twenty- 
fourth army corps, besides doing his share of surgical work in the field." 
He was present at the battles of Williamsburg, May 5, 1862; Fair Oaks, 
May 31-June 1; the advance to the vicinity of Richmond in June of the same 
year; at Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864; Bermuda Hundred, on the 16th; the 
siege of Petersburg, and many other actions less known to the general 
reader. "On September 29, 1864, he was in the battle of Fort Harrison, 
where Gen. G. J. Stannard was wounded, and assisted in removing his left 
arm. The G. A. R. post in Wakefield, Kan., was named for General Stan- 
nard." 

Doctor Burt came to Kansas in March, 1868, and spent his later years on 
his farm in Republican township. Although a Methodist by persuasion, his 
early associations with the Madura community led him to attend the Congre- 
gational church. He died at his home, April 5, 1901, in his seventy-second 
year.*""' Mrs. Burt traced her ancestry to William Locke, of Woburn. Her 
great grandfather, David Locke, born 1740, as we read in the published his- 
tory of the family, was a soldier both in the Seven Years' war and in the War 
of Independence. " He was a soldier in the old French war. at Crown Point 
and Ticonderoga. In the War of the Revolution he was a volunteer who went 
to the assistance of General Gates in September, 1777, and was present at 
the surrender of Burgoyne. He was an influential man in the church, of 
which he was a most exemplary member, "^e 

In the same neighborhood with Doctor and Mrs. Burt lived W. P. Gates, 
who, as a mere lad, had also seen military service in the civil war. In an ad- 

NoTE 84.— Gilbert W. Southwick. in the Wakefield Advertiser, November 5, 1897. (Santa 
Barbara, Cal.. Octobers. 1897.) 

Note 85.-The Clay Center Times. April 11. 1901. 

Note 86.— Mary Smith Locke, born 1829; papre 225 of "A Genealogical and Historical Record 
of the Descendants of Wm. Locke, of Woburn, 1853 ; Boston and Cambridge " ( Jas. Monroe & Co ) 



The Wakefield Colony. 27 

dress on October 10, 1894, Doctor Burt mentions a settler named French, 
who Hkewise Hved in that vicinity. 

In the district north of Wakefield the Avery family had taken up claims 
before the coming of the English colonists. The first to settle in that vicin- 
ity was Mr. Albert Avery. His brother, Mr. Henry Avery, came some time 
later. They were natives of Orleans county, Vermont, and were of English 
descent. The following is an account of the coming of the Avery family to 
this country: 

"We now take up the record of our earliest ancestor (Dr. Wm. Avery) 
who crossed the Atlantic. He in 1650 cast in his lot with the settlers of the 
town of Dedham, Mass., bringing with him his wife, Margaret, and three 
children, from the Parish of Barkham, county of Berkshire, England." 

The colonial Averys of the first two generations were of English birth. 
Rev. John Avery, born 1685, grandson of Dr. Wm. Avery, and his son Job, 
born 1722-'3, lived in Truro, on Cape Cod. George (1757-1859), was a 
son of Job Avery and Jean Thatcher, and grandfather of Messrs. Albert 
and Henry Avery, fought in the War of Independence, and after its close 
resided in Plainfield, N. H., on the east bank of the Connecticut river. He 
left an account of his "Tryals and Captivity" during the war. George 
Avery, son of the preceding, after living many years in Orleans county, 
Vermont, came with his family to Kansas, and died near Wakefield, Sep- 
tember 29, 1889, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Elkins.«^ 

Mr. Albert Avery's farm, on Caine's creek, afterward purchased by his 
brother Henry, consisted of parts of sections 18 and 19, township 9 south, 
range 4 east. Albert died at Wakefield, February 1, 1875. 

The pioneer settler in Gill township was Mr. Kirby. His claim included 
the SM of SEI4 of sec. 13 and NU of NE>4 of sec. 24. In the year 1868 
his house was the only dwelling in the township. '^'^ 

With regard to Athelstane township, th^ following information is to be 
found in Plat-book (p. 21): "The first settlers in this township were 
William Price and his son Martin, who came February 17, 1860." 

THE ENGLISH SETTLERS. 
Settlers in township 10, range U east. 
The town site of Wakefield consisted of 120 acres in the NW34 of sec. 5, 
and the two "eighties" (E>^ of NEi^^ of sec. 6, and N}^ of SWI4 of sec. 5) 
adjoining it on the west and south respectively. In section 6, the east half 
was owned by Mr. R. T. Batchelor, the west half by Mr. James Gibbons, 
both of whom were members of the pioneer party. When the Marshall map 
was drawn the Gibbons homestead was owned by William Allaway. The 
W>e of NEI4, adjoining the town site of Wakefield, was owned by Mr. John 
Chapman. An account of my father's family has been given in connection 
with the list of those who came out in the steamship Nebraska in 1869. My 
mother was the second daughter of Mr. William Hellier, of Poundsford ( Pit- 
minister), near Taunton. The Helliers had been settled for several genera- 
tions at Hennock, near Bovey Tracey (Devon). Mrs. Wm. Hellier was a 
daughter of Edmund Rich, esq., of Cross House, Over Stowey. The Riches of 
Stowey, Butcombe, and Bagborough were descended from "Samuel Rich, 

Note 87.— Avery family record ; Dedham Branch of the Avery Family in America, pp. 19, 322- 
327. (Plymouth, Mass.. 1893.) 

Note 88. -Wakefield Advertiser. October 25, 1894. 



28 The Wakefield Colony. 

esq., gentleman,"'^'' who flourished in the last quarter of the seventeenth 
century. On the extinction of the elder branch of the family (in 1815) my 
maternal great-grandfather removed from Butcombe to Over Stowey. 

The west half of the section was divided in four "eighties," lying east 
and west. The original proprietors were Messrs. Pettigrew (Ni2 0f NWI4), 
Billingham (S^o of same), Geo. Taylor (N^^ of SWJ4), and John Spooner 
(SI2 of same), all of whom came out in the steamship Nebraska in 1869. 
In 1873-'74 the Geo. Taylor farm was owned by E. R. Hawes, who came 
out with Mr. Sparrowhawk's party. 

Section 7, lying southwest of Wakefield, was assigned to the directors of 
the colony— the NEI4 to Mr. John Wormald, the NWI4 to Mr. Alex. Mait- 
land, the SWI4 to Rev. Richard Wake, and the SEI4 to Mr. R. H. Drew. 
Of the proprietors mentioned, Mr. Drew never became an actual settler, 
although he paid a visit to the colony in the early days and stayed with my 
father at his farm on section 6. In addition to the quarter-section men- 
tioned above, Mr. Alex. Maitland owned the "eighty" (in twp. 10, range 3 
east) adjoining it on the west, and also the S^o of SW34 of section 5, adjoin- 
ing the town site of Wakefield. He erected a dwelling-house on the first- 
named eighty, and also commenced to build a stone residence on the farm 
lying south of the town site. The southeast angle of the last-named build- 
ing, situated on the east slope of the bluff just north of Denny Mason's, 
was standing not many years since. Some trees had sprung up under the 
shelter of the wall, and from the roadside a doorway or window aperture 
was visible. I think the material was afterwards removed for building 
purposes. 

About the year 1873-'74, the Wormald quarter-section appears to have 
changed hands. At some time later the farm adjoining Wakefield on the 
south passed into the hands of Mr. Wormald, and became known as the 
Wormald farm. 

The proprietors of section 18 (adjoining section 7 on the south) were 
Messrs. Skinner, Dodson and Dibben. The northeast quarter of the section 
belonged to the State Agricultural College. Concerning Mr. Skinner, I find 
the following entry in the Forty-seventh Annual Session of the Congrega- 
tional Association (pp. 42, 43): 

"Edward Skinner was born in Old Dalby, Leicestershire, England, Au- 
gust 24, 1837. He commenced preaching in England when eighteen years of 
age. Came to America May 14, 1873. Pastor of Madura (Wakefield) and 
Milford churches in Kansas from 1873 to December, 1879. Church was built 
in Milford during his pastorate, which was the first church in Kansas built 
without missionary aid. . . . Died at his home in Blue Rapids, Kan., 
January 8, 1901." 

Mr. Skinner's homestead was the N^o of NW>4 of sec. 18. On the SEI4 
Mr. A. Gaston appears to have been preceded by a settler named Isaac 
Jacobus.^" 

On section 19 the proprietors were Messrs. Mark Dodson, Emory White, 

Note 89.— Mural tablet in the parish church. Over Stowey. 

Note 90. — Marshall map. section 18. township 10. rang'e 4; "With regard to the Jacobus 
land, I find that the first settler on that land was George Purinton, who lived on it (but I do not 
remember any house or remains of one). He sold it to Mr. Jacobus, who was a Congregational 
minister in Junction City, an old man, I believe. A [leek] Gaston bought it from him or his 
assigns. The other piece of the A[leck] Gaston place was first settled by H. W. Brown who 
sold it to Charles Purinton and by whom it was sold to Gaston."— J. P. Marshall. 



The Wakefield Colony. 29 

and William Gaston. All these were of American birth. The Gaston family 
were Scotch-Irish Pennsylvanians."' 

The SI 2 of sec. 20 was owned by Messrs. Walters, Gates, Eustace and 
Burt. The Walters and Eustace families were English. The NEI4 of sec. 
30 was owned by Messrs. Lumb (N^o) and Wheelright (Si;>)- They were 
Yorkshire people. It may deserve mention that Mr. Lumb (now residing at 
Wakefield) possesses a copy of the "Breeches Bible" printed in 1599, 
so-called from its curious rendering of Gen. 3:7, that has come down from 
the reign of Queen Elizabeth. No entries appear on sections 29 and 31. 
The Wio of sec. 32 has been mentioned as belonging to the State Agricul- 
tural College. The proprietors of the east half of the same sections 
were Messrs. Thurlow and Lawton. The N^o of NEI4 belonged to Wil- 
liam Eustace, whose homestead was on section 20. Mr. Robert Spar- 
rowhawk came out with a large party in April, 1871, and settled on 
the NEI4 of sec. 28.^2 jjig former home was at Aston under Wychwood 
(Oxfordshire). A curious passage in Florence of Worcester's Chronicle 
shows that this surname is a survival of an Anglo-Saxon proper name cur- 
rent in the Upper Thames valley in the days of Edward the Confessor The 
entry reads: "A. D. 1050. Spearhafoc [Sparrowhawk], abbot of Abingdon, 
was elected bishop of London, but was ejected by King Edward before con- 
secration. " "^ The circumstance is remarkable, because Anglo-Saxon proper 
names fell into complete disuse soon after the conquest. J. T. Tait and 
H. S. Walters also held claims on section 28. ^^ 

Settlers in township 10 south, range 3 east. 
We shall begin our survey of the township with the northeast corner— 
the point nearest Wakefield. Here, on section 1, the NEI4 belonged to Mr. 
T. P. Pettigrew. Forty acres of the SEI4 adjoining the Spooner farm oh 
the west appear to have belonged to John Spooner. On section 12 there 
were eight proprietors. The E^o of the NEI4, adjoining his quarter-section 
in Republican township, belonged to Mr. Alex. Maitland. Alexander Mait- 
land was born May 7, 1838, in the parish of Auchterless, Aberdeen, Scotland, 
and came of a race of gentleman farmers who have lived on the same farms 
for over four hundred years. Before coming to this country he was in bus- 
iness in London. He was one of the founders of Wakefield and a director 
of the Kansas Land and Emigration Company. In 1880 he removed to the 
Pacific coast. He died at his home in Seattle, August 30, 1905.* The Eig 
of the SE>4 of sec. 12, belonged to Rev. Richard Wake. With his permis- 
sion I quote the following biographical sketch : 

"I was born November 18, 1831, in a Hampshire village a few miles from 
Winchester. Enjoyed only such educational advantages as private schools 
of ordinary grade in that day afforded. In early manhood I entered the 
ministry of the Wesleyan Reform church, but after a year's labor in North- 
hamptonshire, I came in 1854 to this country and united with the Methodist 
Episcopal church, of which I have been a minister until now." ''^ 

Without repeating the account of Mr. Wake's colonial experiences, 

* Mrs. Isabella Maitland. Note 91. -S. S. Gaston. 

Note 92.— Plat-book, section 28. township 10, range 4 east. 

Note 93. — Chronicle, A. D. 1050 : Spearha focus abbas Abbandoniensis Lundonise prxsulatum 
suscepit, sed antequam esset consecratus, a rege Edwardo est ejectus. 

Note 94.— Plat- book, section 28. Note 95.— Letter, December 18, 1907. 



30 The Wakefield Colony. 

which has been given elsewhere, it will suffice to say that he remained with 
the colony through the period of its early struggles and bore no common 
part in its hardships. He was the founder of the Methodist church in 
Wakefield and a lifelong advocate of the temperance cause. Under the 
date of May 4, 1907, he says : "My brother and I are probably the only 
surviving members of the Kansas Land and Emigration Company, Mr. Mait- 
land having died suddenly m Seattle in September, 1905, and Mr. Wormald 
some time previously in Chicago." 

The W,^2 of NEI4 was the homestead of Benjamin Budden. The E^^ 
and WI2 of NWI4 belonged to Messrs. Eustace and Cowdery, respectively. 
R. N. Cowdery came from the neighborhood of Salisbury, in Wiltshire; Mr. 
Eustace was from Oxfordshire. The W^o of SEI4 belonged to Dr. Charles 
Hewitt; the Eio of SWI4 to Jason Withers; the WU to Arthur Marshall, a 
brother of J. P. Marshall.**" There were two Withers brothers, Ralph and 
Jason. Jason was a son-in-law of Mr. Cowdery. 

On section 13, the S>2 of SE^i belonged to Mr. Kirby. The W^o of 
NWI4 was the property of Mr. J. P. Marshall. (This claim was originally 
purchased by Mr. James Marshall.) Mr. Marshall, to whom we owe the 
map upon which this account is largely based, was a native of New Aires- 
ford, in Hampshire. On section 24, the NW^4 belonged to D. H. Dudy, an 
American and a veteran of the civil war. The S^o of NEi^4, adjoining Mr. 
Kirby 's farm, belonged to an Englishman named Thomas Goosey. A son of 
Mr. Goosey died in Wakefield and was buried on his father's farm. On the 
S3^ several of the names have been rewritten. The entries are: SEI4, E^o, 
Gaston; W,i.<, T. K. White; SWI4, F.%, ( WiUiam) Ware; ^H, Buckle, f. 
K. White was an American; William Ware, a Devonshire man. The latter 
had lived for many years in the United States. On the NWI4 of section 25 
appears the name Blatch; on the corresponding I4 of section 36, R. Jones. 
Section 36 was school-land. 

We shall now resume our survey from the northern boundary of the town- 
ship, beginning with sections 2 and 3. On the former section the NEI4 was 
owned by Mr. O. R. Sweezey, an American. His claim was "jumped" by 
an adventurer named Jack Beatty. Both names appear on the Marshall 
map. The E^o of NWI4 belonged to Isaiah Jevons, a native of Staffordshire, 
but many years a resident of America. The Wf.< was owned by Mr. Lewin, 
but occupied by Alfred Yarrow. The S^o was divided into four eighties. 
The EJ2 and WJ2 of SE>4 were owned by Messrs. Shrives and Guy respect- 
ively. Both were from the county of Sussex. 

Mr. Wm. Guy, to whom the writer is more extensively indebted than to 
any other informant, was a native of the parish of Ripe, near Hastings. 
He was born in 1833, the son of John and Elizabeth ( Feist) Guy. He at- 
tended Tunbridge school from 1845 to 1847, was afterwards in Hastings, and 
then at Tunbridge Wells from March 1, 1850, to February, 1854, when he 
went to London and united with the Congregational church at Westminster 
Chapel, of which Rev. Samuel Martin" (died 1878) was pastor. He was in 
business at Oxford, 1856-'60, and later in Shrewsbury until the time of his 
coming to America. By residence on the south co^st and later in the Thames 

Note 96. — "The 'eighty' now owned by John Young was first settled by a man from Illi- 
nois, who built a sod house on the southeast corner. Jason Withers. I think, got it for a tree 
claim, and then my brother Arthur had it."— (J. P. Marshall.) 

Note 97.— National Dictionary of Biog., vol. 36. pp. 294-295. 



The Wakefield Colony. 31 

and Severn valleys, Mr. Guy acquired an extensive knowledge of a large 
part oi England. Not only did he become well versed in a great variety of 
matters pertaining to London, but he was likewise well acquainted with the 
university town of Oxford, and with Shrewsbury, '■"* the old capital of the 
Welsh border. 

In the early days of the English "settlement in Clay county Mr. Guy ran 
the ferry-boat which connected Wakefield with the townships east of the 
river. This afforded him unusual opportunity for becoming acquainted with 
the settlers. His extensive knowledge of places in England gave him a 
grasp of facts as well as a memory for persons not often equaled. It would 
be no exaggeration to say that he knew every one in and about Wakefield. 
To his personal recollections we owe the larger part of our definite infoi'ma- 
tion concerning the English settlers. 

A few words may be added about his connection with the subsequent 
history of the town. He has been a deacon in the Madura Congregational 
church for about eighteen years. To this office he brought a wide knowledge 
of the Scriptures and an acquaintance with representative evangelical preach- 
ing such as few possess. In civil life he has been a member of the town 
council for five years, and was likewise mayor of Wakefield in 1889-'90.'J'' 

The following changes in the ownership of the SWI4 of sec. 2 took place 
before the Marshall map was drawn : 

The Wio was first occupied by Humphrey Hughes, afterwards by a Mr. 
Phillips. The E^o of the quarter-section was taken up by John Cole, who 
came out on the Nebraska. It afterwards passed into the hands of Walter 
Parsons, whose sister married Mr. Phillips, the proprietor of the adjoining 
"eighty. "'00 Both farms were eventually purchased by B. F. Jevons, son 
of Isaiah Jevons. 

The Nio of sec. 3 was owned by Mr. Charles Ingram, a native of county 
Dorset, England. St. John's church. Episcopal, was built on the northeast 
corner of his estate. Mr. Ingram was a member of the executive committee 
of the Wakefield Agricultural and Literary Society (see section IV). He 
sustained serious injuries in trying to rescue some haystacks from a prairie 
fire, and shortly afterwards returned to England and died there. Three 
"eighties" on the N^o of sec. 10 were owned by members of the Titcomb 
family (Mrs. Titcomb and two sons, Mark and Edwin). They were from 
London. The EU of NE>2i belonged to John Bulmer. James Vincent home- 
steaded the S'^ of SEf4 of sec. 10. 'o' When the Marshall map was made 
the aforesaid quarter-section belonged to Thos. Holt and Richard Cawcutt. 
They were younger men, who, I am informed, came out in the same party 
with Mr. Vincent. Somewhat later the Holt farm became the property of 
Geo. Pearson. Both claims were afterwards purchased by J. K. Hammond. 

On section 10, the NWI4 was occupied by Gilbert Jones, son of a chemist 
in Sloane street, Chelsea. The claim was railroad land and seems later to 
have reverted to the railroad company. Gilbert Jones went back to Eng- 
land, probably about 1874. i»2 

Note 98. — "Shrewsbury was the chief place of an extensive and fertile district. The court 
of the marches of Wales was held there. In the language of the gentry many miles around the 
Wrekin, to go to Shrewsbury was to go to town."— (Macaulay, Hist, of Eng. ch. Ill, ' England in 

1685.") 

Note 99.— W. Guy, personal reminiscences. April 3, 1908. 

Note 100.— W. Guy. personal reminiscences. Note 101.— J. G. Billingham. 

Note 102.-W. Guy. 



32 The Wakefield Colony. 

The W^.j of NWi4 of section 14 was owned by Mr. John Muston, the E^.^ 
of the same quarter by Edward Moore. The latter was associate pastor of 
the Madura Union church in the early days. They came over on the Ne- 
braska in 1869. The Moore farm was afterwards purchased by Thomas 
Waller, who came from the Lancashire border, not far from Staleybridge.'"^ 
The proprietor of the Ei^ of NEI4 of section 14 was James Marshall, a 
brother of J. P. Marshall. He married Miss Downey, a sister of Mrs. Alex. 
Maitland. He subsequently lived in St. Louis for about two years and then 
returned to London, England. The WKt of the same quarter-section was 
the homestead of Mr. J. P. Marshall. In a letter of recent date he says: 
"My homestead was the W^o of NEI4 of section 14, twp. 10, range 3, and 
my brother James had the E^b of the same quarter. He also bought the 
Wio of NWI4 of section 13. When he left I bought both pieces from 
him."i»^ 

Mr. Poppleton and his sons owned claims on the S^o of the section. The 
W}t of SWI4 belonged to Edward Jones, who came out with the Alsop 
party in 1870. Mr. Jones afterwards purchased the Batchelor farm on sec- 
tion 6, in Repubhcan township. By far the largest tract of land in Gill 
township (section 23 and half of section 15) was owned, nominally at least, 
by parties named Southworth. It is probable that they were not actual set- 
tlers, and that the land eventually reverted to the company. The later pro- 
prietors of the Southworth section were C. M. Stone and J. M. McDougal '"^ 

On section 22 the E^U of NWI4 was owned by Mr. Gillett. He married 
a Miss Eustace. The SWI4, W^s, was owned by John Pett, who came out 
in the winter of 1869-'70. The Eio belonged to J. W. Sampson, who was a 
member of the Alsop party. On the SEI4. the N^^ was owned by Joseph 
Starling, the S^o by Charles Harris. Mr. Harris was a member of the Ox- 
fordshire colony, and the neatly painted house which he erected on his claim 
was a landmark in the pioneer days. 

The proprietors of the NWI4 of sec. 26 were Messrs. Poppleton and 
Exley; the NEI4, Messrs. Gaston and Buckle. E. T. Buckle afterwards 
traded his place in section 26 to James Young for the latter's place in town- 
ship 9, section 34. On the S^o of the section the E^.s of the SW14 was 
owned by one of the Oxfordshire settlers named Cumber ; the W^o was the 
property of James Clarke. John Chambers (of county Kent, England) 
owned the E^o of the SEI4. On section 28 three eighties were owned by 
Stephen Seal and members of his family, and one (E^oof NEI4) by Thos. 
Newell. The Seal family were from Northamptonshire originally, but came 
to this country from Surrey.'"" 

Two eighties, forming the eastern third of section 21, were owned by 
Mr. Docking, and the S^o of sec. 4 belonged to members of the Haden 
family. The NEI4 of the same section was the property of Mr. Moutrie. 
The W^o belonged to an American settler named Lake. Mrs. Pearson, who 
came from Baltimore in November, 1870, owned the E^o of SEi4 of sec. 8. 
The services of the Episcopal church were first held in her house in the spring 
of 1871. and continued until the Rev. Mr. Hickox assumed charge. Mrs. 

Note 103.— W. Guy. 

Note 104.— J. P. Marshall (Wakefield. September 30. 1906). 
Note 105.— Plat-book, sectioa23, township 10, range 3 east. 
Note 106. -W. Seal. 



The Wakefield Colony. 33 

Pearson removed to Wakefield in 1881, and resided at tiie corner of B street 
and Sixth avenue.'"" Definite information concerning other settlers in Gill 
township has not been procured. 

Among the settlers in Union Township were Jasper Cowell, Mrs. Ran- 
dall, and James Yarrow, all of whom had claims on section 28.""* Benjamin 
Moutelle owned the farm previously occupied by the Laundys. T. C. Roscoe 
and S. B. Porter both had claims on section 22. 

"Mr. S. B. Porter homesteaded the S^o of SW}^^ of sec. 22, township 9, 
range 3, now owned by Mr. Sam Adams. Mr. Porter also owned the 160 
acres south of his homestead. Some years later he sold out and went to 
Oregon." '"' 

The homestead of Mr. Wm. Alsop, well known as a leading member of 
the party from the Welsh border, was on the Sf ^ of NE^^ of sec. 24, in the 
same township."" A party of young men— L. J. Millard, J. Barron and 
John Shute— lived for some time on the Boutwell place, north of Wakefield. 

Concerning Mr. R. Hamilton, of Athelstane township (N^-i of NEI4 of 
sec. 26), the Plat- book makes the following statement: "One of the fore- 
most men in this township w^as R. Hamilton, who formerly Hved in Athel- 
stane Ford, in Scotland. When the post-oflftce was established at his house 
he named it Athelstane; and when the township was formed it took its name 
from the post-office. . . . The post-office was established in 1873. " '" 

The settlement at Timber creek, 'i- with its cemetery looking down on 
Wakefield from the highest point east of the river, is but little older than 
the English colony in years, and yet, so far as our national history is con- 
cerned, it belongs to a much older order of things. Its origin, like that of 
other pioneer beginnings in Kansas, must be traced to that mighty move- 
ment which peopled the valley of the Ohio and from thence flowed out into 
all the lands of the middle West. Nor should we forget that the struggle 
between competing systems north and south of Mason and Dixon's line 
brought free-state men to the creek vClleys of Clay county, just as it 
brought John Brown to Osawatomie.* It was the triumph of the free-state 
cause in Kansas that precipitated the issues of three-quarters of a century 
of conflict, dating it, as I think we may, from the ordinance of 1787. Yet 
Wakefield is not without an historical interest of its own. American history 
has its sources in the local rather than in the general history of Great Brit- 
ain. Hence the register of the settlers has to do with places and movements 
that belong quite as much to the background of American history as to the 
local history of England. To consider the various districts of old England 
in their mutual relations, we must think of the country as divided by a di- 
agonal fine extending from Chester to London. This boundary coincides 
very nearly with the ancient Roman highway of Watling street"-* in early 

*"The Beecher Bible and Rifle Company still in the spirit hovers over Kansas like the 
chariots of fire round about Elisha."— E. H. Abbott, Religious Life in America, p. 213. 

Note 107.— J. P. Marshall. 

Note 108. -J. G. Cowell (Clay Center, January 25, 1908). 

Note 109. -R. Alsop. Note 110.— W. Guy. Note 111.— Plat-book. p. 21. 

Note 112.— I venture to include this brief digression on what may be termed the historic sig- 
nificance of the Wakefield Colony.— (W. J. C. ) 

Note 113.— The actual course of Watling street runs from Wroxeter, near Shrewsbury, to 
Dunstable, and thence to London, but since Essex is a Saxon land a line must be drawn eastward 
from Dunstable to the sea. 



34 The Wakefield Colony. 

times between the Angles and Saxons and at a later period between the 
Saxons and the Danes. 

The eastern half of middle England, lying beyond Watling street, is 
the native home of the literary language of the English-speaking world."* 
Originally the local dialect of Northamptonshire and southern Lincolnshire, 
it is now the common tongue of Britain, and, one almost might venture to 
say, the universal language of the younger nations of the earth. The town 
of Northampton, from its central position, became one of the meeting-places 
of the northern and southern English. Parliaments were on several occasions 
held here, notably that of 1328, which acknowledged the independence of 
Scotland. Here, too, was the ancestral home of the Washingtons. Lawrence 
Washington was twice mayor of Northampton in the reign of Henry VIII, 
and his descendants resided at Sulgrave manor till the time of Cromwell. 
Having lost their lands during the Puritan revolution, they subsequently 
occupied the humble cottage at Little Brington (six miles from Northampton) 
which still attracts the attention of the American pilgrim."'' 

South of the Thames we find the land of the West Saxons, with its old 
capital at Winchester. This district, differing widely in speech from middle 
England, was the immediate dominion of the line of kings to which Alfred 
the Great belonged. The influence of the Thames valley, and more especially 
of London, tended from the first to draw the main body of Saxon territory 
into the general life of England. The West Saxon speech held its ground 
as a literary language from the days of King Alfred (died 901) till John of 
Trevisa, in 1387, and is still represented by the rustic dialects of Somerset 
and the adjoining counties. 

In the southwest, local feeling was much in evidence during the wars of 
the Puritan revolution. Puritanism, instead of being generally diffused 
through the country, was almost characteristic of the larger towns. This 
was not without its influence upon the course of events in the great civil 
war. Places like Plymouth and Taunton, defended by their own citizens, 
seemed like puritan communities in the midst of a country not fully alive to 
the issue."" Forty years later the same union of local feeling and puritan 
sentiment reappears in the ill-starred rebellion of the duke of Monmouth. 
Those of his adherents who were transported were consigned to the West 
Indies, because in New England or New Jersey they would be sure to find 
sympathizers. With but little change in scene and circumstance, the part 

Note 114. — "The East Midland (dialect) became the language of literature, the standard 
English. Becoming 'in cloisters on the Nen and Welland the fullest receiver of French words, 
and the largest accepter of the changes, and especially in Robert of Brunne's work, it took hold 
of Cambridge, and then of Oxford, and spoken and written in these centers of learning, crept 
down conquering to the south, and finally seized on London'.' "— (Stopford Brooke ) 

Note 115.— W. D. Howells, Certain Delightful English Towns, c. XIII. " Northampton and 
the Washington Country." 

Note 116. — "The Restoration had produced no effect on the temper of the Taunton men. 
They had still continued to celebrate the happy day on which the siege laid to their town by the 
royal army had been raised; and their stubborn attachment to the old cause had excited so much 
fear and resentment at Whitehall that by a royal proclamation their moat had been filled up and 
their wall demolished to its foundation." ( Macaulay, History of England, c. V, p. 542.) In 
speaking of Taunton as a walled town. Macaulay seems to have been misled by the terms of the 
royal proclamation. Its resistance becomes the more remarkable when we learn that the defences 
actually consisted of nothing more than earthworks (with palisades) and the loopholed walls of 
the houses. (See Gardiner, History of the Great Civil War. vol. II. p. 98.) "When Blake de" 
fended Taunton, he was not merely defending a strong military post which military needs re- 
quired should be defended ; he was something like the defender of a free city ; he was the defender 
of a town which had a character and an interest of its own ; he was the leader of burghers who 
knew for what they were fighting and whose hearts were thoroughly in the cause." — ( Freeman, 
English Towns and Districts, p. 117.) 



The Wakefield Colony. 35 

which the Southwest played in those conflicts might seem almost like a 
chapter from the beginnings of New England. This is not without signifi- 
cance, both for the English settlers from that region and for those Ameri- 
can families that claim a west country origin. •'" 

The intermediate district, lying for the most part north of the Thames, con- 
sists of two border lands, the forgotten boundary between the Angles and the 
Saxons, and the long-contested frontier between the Saxons and the Welsh. 
London, "a nation of six millions that chooses to call itself a town," is 
situated near the southeast corner of this part of England. Oxford holds a 
central position not unlike that of Northampton in the East Midlands. On 
the western line Shrewsbury must be accorded a similar importance. A 
large party of colonists came to Wakefield from the Thames valley, and 
another, from the Welsh border. 

The country north of the Humber links the history of England to that of 
Scotland, to the Dano-Norwegian kingdom of Dublin, and to the lands of 
the Scandinavian north— a subject too large to receive even the briefest 
treatment here. More immediate interest attaches to- the fact that Wake- 
field bears the name of a Yorkshire town, the former home of one of its 
founders. Another point of contact is afforded by the " Geneva version " 
of the Bible, 118 a copy of which is owned by W. E. Lumb, one of our settlers 
from the north country. This version was translated by the English exiles 
who fled to Geneva in the days of Queen Mary. William Whittingham,"» 
the principal translator, born at Chester about the year 1524, was, both on 
his father's and his mother's side, of Lancashire descent. At Geneva he 
succeeded John Knox, the celebrated Scottish reformer, as pastor of the 
English church, and after his return to England he became Dean of Durham. 
The Geneva version was the popular Bible of the seventeenth century. Its 
adoption of the verse divisions made it useful for reference. Its smaller 
size gave it immense advantage over editions that were printed exclusively 
in folio, and at the same time the " helps '*'with which it was furnished put 
the reader in possession of the results of the best biblical scholarship of that 
day. The Geneva version was, as the citations in the Bradford History 
show, the Bible of the Pilgrim Fathers. In the political tendency of its an- 
notations we trace at least one of the sources of the principle that "govern- 
ments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." 

VII. -CONCLUSION. 

Our survey of the early history of the Wakefield colony closes with the 
year 1874. In that year Kansas was devastated by grasshoppers, and the 
settlers felt, not without reason, that the cup of their misfortunes was full. 
We shall give an account of the fate of the -colony in general, together with 
brief notices of the subsequent fortunes of the settlers. 

Note 117.— Genealogical and Historical Record of the Descendants of Wm. Locke, of Woburn, 
pp. 342-346 ; the Dedham Branch of the Avery Family in America, p. 12. 

Note 118.— We give the title-page of Mr. Lumb's Bible :— "The Bible: Translated according 
to the Ebrew and Greeke. and conferred with the best translations in diverse Languages. With 
most profitable Annotations upon all the hard places, and other things of great importance as 
may appeare in the Epistle to the Reader. And also a most profitable Concordance for the readie 
finding out of anything in the same conteined. JOSHUA 1 : 8. Let not this Booke of the Lawe 
depart out of thy mouth, but meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe and doe 
according to all that is vsrritten therein ; for then shalt thou make thy way prosperous, and then 
shalt thou have good successe. Imprinted at London by the Deputies of Christopher Barker 
Printers to the Queenes most excellent Maiestie. 1599. Cumyratiaetprivilegio Reginx Maiestatis." 

Note 119. — National Dictionary of Biog., " Whittingham." vol. LXI. pp. 150-153. 



36 The Wakefield Colony. 

The two chief drawbacks with which the colonists had to contend were 
the dry continental climate, so different from that of England, and the ad- 
verse economic conditions. In addition to these there were also the many 
hardships incident to pioneer life. 

The change from an insular to a continental climate has often proved one 
of the severest tests, not only of colonial enterprise but also of military en- 
durance. One need scarcely mention the sufferings of the British soldiers 
during the Crimean war (winter of 1854-'55). Life in the heart of a conti- 
nent has always been full of surprises to those who were born and brought 
up on islands or projecting coast lands. Herodotus, who visited the shores 
of the Black sea in the fifth century, B. c, has thus described his impres- 
sions of the climate of southern Russia: 

"All this country which I have been speaking of is subject to such a se- 
vere winter that for eight months the frost is so intolerable that if you 
pour water on the ground you will not make mud, but if you light a fire you 
will make mud." '-" 

This is perhaps the earliest description of a continental climate that has 
come down to us. Even the tone of exaggeration is not without interest, 
since it shows how strongly the contrast was felt. We should not, however, 
forget that continental visitors, from the ancient Roman historians to the 
American naturalist, John Burroughs, have rendered a similarly unfavorable 
judgment upon the insular climate of Britain. '2' Historical interest, in this 
particular, attaches to the story of Wakefield because it links the experi- 
ence of our own times to that of the first colonists in Virginia and New 
England. Difference of climate was one of the most serious drawbacks 
with which the path-breakers of colonization had to contend. A striking 
illustration of this fact is afforded by the story of the Popham colony in 1607. ^'^- 

"The cause of the failure of many early colonies is now evident. The 
old voyagers were ignorant of the great difference in the climates of Europe 
and America; they expected to find similar conditions on both sides of the 
Atlantic. They were further led into error through the fact that their ex- 
plorations were made in the summer, when the climatic conditions of the 
two sides of the North Atlantic most nearly resemble one another. For 
instance, [George] Weymouth, who visited Maine in the summer, found a 
temperature which resembled that of southern France, but the colonists 
who came over in consequence of his favorable reports found a winter tem- 
perature like that of northern Norway." '-^ 

Note 120.— Herodotus, book IV. sec. 28 : The "Scythia " of Herodotus includes the modem 
provinces of South Russia and Little Russia. 

Note 121. — "Coelum." says Tactitus, " crebris iynhrihus nc nehulis foedum; asperitas frigo- 
rum abest. The sky is deformed by clouds and frequent rains ; but the cold is never extremely 
rigorous." ( Vit. Agr. c. 12.) "There is one thing they do not have in England that we can 
boast of at home, and that is a good masculine type of weather; it is not even feminine; it is 
childish and puerile, though I am told that oci-asionally there is a full-grown storm. But I saw 
nothing but petulant little showers and prolonged juvenile sulks. The clouds have no reserve, 
no dignity ; if there is a drop of water in them ( and there are generally several drops out it 
comes. The prettiest little showers march across the country in summer, scarcely bigger) than a 
street- watering cart; sometimes by getting over the fence one can avoid them, but they keep the 
haymakers in a perpetual flurry. There is no cloud scenery, as with us ; no mass and solidity, no 
height nor depth. The clouds seem low, vague and vapory — immature, indefinite, inconsequent 
tial, like youth." — (John Burroughs, Fresh Fields, pp. 106, 107.) 

Note 122.— It was believed, on the testimony of those who had spent the previous summer 
in New England, that the country would produce nutmegs (not the wooden variety ), and other 
tropical spices. "On May 31, 1607. a fleet under Geo. Popham, brother of the chief justice, and 
Raleigh Gilbert, sailed for the coast of what is now the state of Maine. They landed at the 
mouth of the Kennebec, built a fort, and explored the country. They found no gold ; the natives 
proved hostile ; and the winter was severe beyond anything they had ever conceived. They 
seized the first opportunity to abandon the enterprise, and returned home in the following 
spring." — (Channing, Student's History, pp. 52, 53.) 

Note 123.— Channing, Student's History, pp. 52, 53. 



The Wakefield Colony. 37 

One hesitates to draw too close a parallel between the Wakefield colony 
and the first settlements on the Atlantic coast. Yet it will be remembered 
that Rev. Richard Wake visited Kansas in a year when conditions most 
nearly resembled those with which he was familiar in Illinois.'-^ On every 
hand there was the evidence of an abundant rainfall, and the grass, even 
on the high prairie, was exceedingly luxuriant. In the presence of such 
facts there was no occasion to suspect the possible differences of climate 
that might come with an additional elevation of six or eight hundred feet, 
and a position considerably nearer the Rocky Mountain plateau. 

The glowing accounts issued by immigration companies and the sharp 
practice often connected with real-estate deals were among the grievances 
of the colonists. The following incident is vouched for by a family well 
known among the English settlers: On landing in New York they were met 
by the local agent of the National Land Company, who endeavored to drive 
a bargain with them for property in the West. Failing to effect the trans- 
action he gave them a sealed letter to the company's agent at Chicago. En 
route one of the members of the family said to the head of the house: 
"Father, I wouldn't carry a letter from one unknown person to another 
with whom you are no better acquainted; why don't you find out what is in 
the letter? " The suggestion was acted upon, and the contents of the letter 
were found to be as follows: 

"Dear N : S and family think of going to Kansas. Fix them, 

and remember me. Yours, etc., ( )"ia5 

The greatest drawback to the colony was found in the general economic 
conditions. The country had not recovered from the civil war. Money was 
scarce and commodities of all kinds expensive. Means of communication 
were very inadequate, and the markets of St. Louis and Chicago were only 
on the threshold of their development. There was no local demand for 
agricultural products and the Kansas Citytnarket was easily glutted. The 
lavish expenditures of English capital in Clay, Geary (Davis) and Dickin- 
son counties had no effect on the country at large. My father once said 
that during 1869-'70 a quarter of a million of English money was spent in 
the district just mentioned, where one could n't have collected a million 
cents three years later. This estimate is confirmed by others.'-" 

In 1874-'75 Kansas was devastated by grasshoppers— a species of insect 
much resembling the migratory locust of the Orient. "This visitation of 
grasshoppers or locusts was the most serious in the history of the state. 
They reached from the Platte river (Nebraska) on the north to northern 
Texas on the south, and penetrated as far east as Sedalia, Mo. Their eggs 
were deposited in favorable localities in this vast territory. The young 
hatched the next spring did great damage to early crops, but in June, hav- 
ing passed into the wing state, they rose into the air and flew back to the 
northwest, whence the parent swarms had come the year before."'-' 

In Ebbutt's Life in Kansas there is an account of the devastation wroyght 
in Morris county. This was about a fortnight, or possibly three weeks, 
after their appearance in the Republican valley. In the Wakefield neigh- 

NOTE 124.— Wakefield Advertiser, November 8, 1894. 

Note 125.— W. Seal. Note 126.— J. P. Marshall. 

Note 127. — See Wilder's Annals of Kansas, August 7, 1874. 



38 The Wakefield Colony. 

borhood they consumed the unharvested crops, garden vegetables and the 
fruit and foliage of the trees. My father, together with Messrs. Billingham 
and Pettigrew, worked far into the night cutting their corn (t. e., maize), 
it having been discovered that the insects would not touch dry fodder while 
green foliage was available. We had a small peach orchard just beginning 
to bear fruit. The grasshoppers stripped it bare, even gnawing the tender 
bark from the shoots, so that here and there a naked peach-stone stood 
alone on its dry stem. In the following spring (1875) their destructive work 
began as early as May, and in Wilder's Annals of Kansas it is recorded that 
Topeka was swarming with grasshoppers from June 7th to 16th of that year. 
It was, however, after the grasshopper year that matters were seen in 
their severest guise. About that time my father described conditions as 
they then were through the columns of one of the West of England papers: 

■ "Five years is certainly long enough to give a thing a trial. . . . 
When I tell you that scores of persons who went out west with capital and 
every advantage would be glad enough to occupy a laborer's cottage and 
eat a laborer's food in England, you will know that they have been griev- 
ously disappointed. It is quite true that land is very cheap and that meat 
can be had at almost a nominal price. . . . When lecturers talk about 
the cheapness of things it would be well if they would also tell the cost of 
raising the crop mentioned and the average price paid to the producer. I 
see by one of the letters, copies of which were circulated by the lecturers, 
that beef can be bought at l^d. per ITj. Where, then, can be the farmer's 
profit for raising cattle, and feeding them through the fearful winters, if 
they are afterwards disposed of at such prices ? A good bullock should 
weigh 100 tTjs. per quarter, or a total of 400 n)s., which, at the price named, 
would amount to 21. 10s. for the whole animal. If these things were con- 
sidered over, it would be seen just where the shoe pinches; and that many 
years of toil, hardship and disappointment must be endured before the pros- 
pects presented can be realized. No one looking on can tell half of the real 
facts, and those who have gone through it all find words fail to express 
their full meaning."'28 

Disappointment was not peculiar to the English colonists. An American 
settler, writing to the Courier Journal, of Louisville, Ky., says: "This 
state is a fraud on a grand scale." His remarks apply both to the condi- 
tions then existing in Kansas and to the methods employed by colonizing 
agencies. His description is decidedly pessimistic: "The people are desti- 
tute and there is no money. The women are half-clothed and the men are 
barefooted on the streets." '^^ 

The misfortunes of the sister colony at Victoria were much greater than 
those of Wakefield. Mr. Grant died in the early days of the settlement, and 
with his decease the moving spirit of the enterprise was gone. "Misfor- 
tune fbllowed misfortune. Thousands of stock died. The colonists were 
discouraged and moved away, abandoning their homes and lands. Their 
places were filled by a large party from southern Russia." 

Mr. R. T. Batchelor, who visited Victoria in the winter of 1897-'98, gives 
the following account of the church erected by the founder of the Victoria 
colony : 

"Our first visit was to the beautiful little church erected by Mr. Grant, 
at his own expense, in the year 1876, and which was not completed when he 
died. The first time it was used was for his funeral service. A handsome 
marble tablet inside the building and over the entrance commemorates his 

Note 128.— J. Chapman. 

Note 129.- A. W. Grisman. about 1879. J. P. Marshall. 



The Wakefield Colony. 39 

It 

death, i^o He was buried just west of the church and his grave is surrounded 
by a neat fence which has been kept up and cared for by a few of his old 
friends who still cherish his memory. The church was practically abandoned 
for many years, as those who were interested were few and too much dis- 
couraged to keep up and maintain the services. Lightning struck the build- 
ing and did much damage. The Russian children made the church a 
playground. The fine organ was damaged by wet and ill-use. The 
stained-glass windows were broken and desolation prevailed." '^^ 

This state of desolation was not, however, suffered to continue perma- 
nently and, as Mr. Batchelor tells us: "To-day the church appears as one of 
the most beautiful Episcopal churches for its size in the diocese," 

A few words may be added concerning the subsequent fortunes of some 
of the settlers mentioned in the earlier sections of this narrative. 

Rev. Richard Wake resided for some time in Topeka. He afterwards 
removed to Salt Lake City, where he took active part in the state temper- 
ance movement. Mr. Alexander Maitland went to Seattle, in the state of 
Washington. E. M. Fulcher, who afterwards owned the Maitland farm on 
section 12, Gill township, went to South Africa, but later returned to this 
country and settled in San Francisco. Mr. T. P. Pettigrew, well known as 
the secretary of the Wakefield Agricultural and Literary Society, removed 
to Virginia and resided at or near Richmond. Rev. W. S. Crouch, in the 
early days proprietor of a timber claim on section 30, in Republican town- 
ship, has been for a number of years pastor of the Congregational church 
at Maplehill, Kan. William AUaway, at one time proprietor of the James 
Gibbon farm, removed to Clay Center. John Brett also went to Clay Cen- 
ter, He died there, and his widow married a Mr. Bradbury, i^- John Far- 
rington Alsop, son of Wm. Alsop, of Caine's creek, left Wakefield for Denver, 
Colo. He was never heard of again. Fehx James Fitters, better known at 
Wakefield as Jim Fitters, enlisted in the United States army, and fell with 
General Custer at the battle of Little Big Horn, June 25, 1876. i^'^ Through 
the courtesy of Geo. W. Martin, secretary'of the Kansas State Historical 
Society, we are enabled to insert the following military record : 

"WarDept. 1199863. "The Military Secretary's Office, 

Washington, March 19, 1906. 

"Respectfully returned to Mr. Geo. W. Martin, secretary of the Kansas 
State Historical Society, Topeka, Kan. 

"It is shown by the records that one Felix James Fitter (not found as 
James Fitters), private, -troop I, Seventh cavalry, was enlisted September 
4, at St. Louis Barracks, Mo., and' that he was killed June 25, 1876, m the 
battle of the Little Big Horn river, Montana territory. , , t^, 

" It is stated in the records that this soldier was born m Alresford, Eng- 
land F. C, AiNSWORTH, Military Secretary." 
"(M. S. 0. 72-L)" 

The Cator brothers, likewise members of the Wakefield colony, settled in 
Texas. Robert Cator subsequently removed to the Pacific slope. His brother, 
James H. Cator, is now a prosperous cattleman at Zulu, Tex.'^^ 

Many of those who left Wakefield in the early days went back to Eng- 
land. Among the number of ex-colonists were the following: Rev. Joseph 
Binns, who came out on the steamer Nebrask a in 1869, afterwards returned 

Note 130. - April 26. 1878, George Grant died at Victoria, near Hays City, aged 64.- (Wilder's 
Annals of Kansas.) 

Note 131.— Wakefield Advertiser. January 21. 1898. 

Note 132.-R. O. Mackintosh. Note 133.— J. P. Marshall. Note 134.-H. W. C. Budden. 



40 The Wakefield Colony. 

to England and became a presiding elder in the Midlands. '^s John Deere, 
who came out on the same ship, went back to Great Britain, and became 
proprietor of an ironmonger's business (hardware store) near the Elephant 
and Castle ( London). '■'° During his subsequent visit in England my father 
on one occasion met Mr. Deere on the platform of the railway station at 
Oxford. Mr. Laundy, the first proprietor of the Moutelle farm (N^o of 
NEI4 of section 34, in Union township) , was also one of those who returned 
to England. !•■'" Another ex-colonist was James Marshall, brother of Mr. J. 
P. Marshall (see section VI). 

We have already noticed that Mr. Charles Ingram, one of the mem- 
bers of the executive committee of the Agricultural and Literary Society, 
also returned to England. His property in Gill township, section 3, was 
afterwards purchased by Mr. F. W. Cornell. Gilbert Jones, whose claim was 
the NWI4 of sec. 11, in the same township, also returned to England, proba- 
bly about the year 1874. "s His land seems to have reverted to the company. 
Uriah Handley (from Cambridgeshire), whose claim was the SWI4 of sec. 
27, in Exeter township, afterwards resided near Bath, England, and engaged 
in the mining and manufacture of fuller's earth, i-*'' Another of the ex-colo- 
nists who went back to Great Britain was Mr. L. J. Millard ( claim SWI4 of 
sec. 13, Athelstane township).'^" Some years later my father, during his 
stay in England, met Mr. Millard at Chippenham, in North Wiltshire. 1*1 

•Among the members of the Oxfordshire colony who returned to their 
native land were Messrs. Gillett (E^e of NWI4 of sec. 22, Gill township), 
Charles Harris (S>^of SEI4), Cumber (Ei^of SWI4 of sec. 26), the Clinch 
brothers, and Mr. and Mrs. Jardine. Mr. Jardine was a son-in-law of Mr. 
James Eustace, and came out in the steamship City of Washington, in April, 
1870. He was afterwards connected with the firm of Huntley & Palmer, 1^'- 
biscuit manufacturers at Reading. Mr. Thomas Beldham informs me, on the 
authority of Frank Harris, who visited his old home some five years ago, that 
the Clinch brothers have prospered since their return to the mother country, 
and that Duncan Church is now a well-to-do veterinary surgeon in London. 
The Buckle family remained at Wakefield for nearly twenty years, and 
then removed to Alberta, British America. 

The story of the Wakefield colony is but a minor circumstance in the 
spread of the English-speaking race throughout the world. It has, however, 
for those who took part in it, the same interest -which a private soldier's 
recollections have for the battles in which he fought. As we have seen, 
the experiences of the English colonists of 1869-'70 often remind us of like 
circumstances in the history of the first settlements in Virginia and New 
England. The reason for this must be viewed from the standpoint of a 
larger historic outlook. Unlike the American settlers they had no well- 
defined idea of pioneer life. They did not realize the greatness of the task 
that was before them. To the Americans, on the other hand, the "Great 
West" had always been a field for enterprise. The struggle with the wil- 
derness was something with which they and their fathers were equally 

Note 135.— W. Guy. Note 139. -R. O. Mackintosh. 

Note 136.— W. Guy. Note 140.— Plat-book. Athelstane township. 

Note 137.— W^. Guy. Note 141.— J. Chapman. 

Note 138.— W. Guy. Note 142.— J. Chapman. 



The Wakefield Colony. 41 

familiar.'^'' In this way the colonial life, its hardships and its achievements, 
had become a part of the national consciousness. No similar influence, how- 
ever, has determined the inner developments of modern England. In this 
connection I cannot forbear quoting a passage from Prof. J. R. Seeley, which, 
although it refers in the first instance to the newer lands of the British 
empire, may be applied, in all its characteristic features, to the settlements 
of Englishmen in the United States: 

"People cannot change their abodes, pass from an island to a continent, 
from the fiftieth degree of north latitude to the tropics or the southern 
hemisphere, from an ancient community to a new colony, from vast manu- 
facturing cities to sugar plantations or to lonely sheepwalks where aboriginal 
savage tribes still wander, without changing their ideas and habits and ways 
of thinking— nay, without somewhat modifying in the course of a few gen- 
erations their physical type. We know already that the Canadian and the 
Victorian are not quite like the Englishman; do we suppose then that in the 
next century, if the colonial population has become as numerous as that of 
the mother country, assuming that the connection has been maintained and 
has become closer, England itself will not be very much modified and trans- 
formed?"'" 

The interest which the story of Wakefield possesses is not merely local 
in character. It is an illustration, at first hand, of the movements and 
changes that are going on everywhere in the English-speaking world. 



APPENDIX I. —Notes on the History of Wakefield. 

REV. WM. TODD AND THE MADURA MISSION. 

Madura, India, was from very early times one of the chief seats of 
Hindoo paganism. Rev. Wm. Todd began work there as a missionary of 
the American board in July, 1834, being associated with Rev. Henry R. 
Hoisington. The mission celebrated its jubilee in 1884, when a small 
volume was published, giving the history' of the mission. There are now 
three native protestant churches in the city— Madura station. West Gate, 
Madura, and East Madura. The statistics given in 1884 for the entire dis- 
trict were: "Stations, 11; churches, 35; communicants. 2817." In 1901 
the mission reckoned 4911 church members and 17,276 adherents. 

Mention of Mr. Todd's missionary career may be found in Brown's Prop- 
agation of Christianity, vol. 3, p. 11 (Edinburgh and London, 1854); in An- 
derson's History of the Missions of the American Board in India (Boston. 
1874), map. pp. 194, 195, Todd, Rev. Wm., 171, 175, 196. Later records of 
the mission : American Madura Mission, Jubilee volume, 1834-1884 ( S. P. C. K. 
Press, Madras, 1886), account of Mr. Todd, p. 52; In the Madura Country, 
Sixty-sixth Annual Report of the American Madura Mission, 1900, ed. W. 
M. Zumbro. 

The city of Madura dates from about 500 B. c. From that period until 
1064 A. D. it was the seat of the Pandian kings. Megasthenes, about 300 

Note 143.— During the first half of the nineteenth century the colonization of the West was 
the really creative factor of American history. "The votes of the states west of the mountains 
elected Jefferson in 1800 and Madison in 1812, and gave Jackson his preponderance over Adams in 
1824. The West was at this time what the colonists had been half a century earlier— a thriving, 
bustling, eager community, with a keen sense of trade and little education." In 1828 "Jackson 
swept every Southern and Western state and received six hundred and fifty thousand popular 
votes, against five hundred thousand for Adams."— (Hart, The Formation of the Union, pp. 261, 
262.) 

Note 144.— The Expansion of England, p. 13. 



42 The Wakefield Colony. 

B. c, makes mention of the city, and one of its kings sent an embassy to 
Augustus Cassar. "' After having been conquered by the Mohammedans 
under Malik Kafur, 1310 A. D., the native kingdom was restored in 1559 by 
Vivanatha. The greatest of his descendants, Tirumala Nayakka (1623-'59), 
restored and beautified the great temple and built a magnificent palace. 
The kingdom came under British control in 1758 and was annexed in 1801. 

The Madura district is a veritable stronghold of Hinduism. From time 
immemorial Madura has been the religious capital of the southern extremity 
of India. Here is the temple of the great goddess Meenatchi, the presiding 
deity of the city. "This temple covers 14J acres, and is in size the third, 
and in magnificence and upkeep the first temple in all India, and has hardly 
its equal anywhere among the ethnic religions. A part of the temple is 
given up to the worship of Siva, who, under the name of Sockalingam, 
is the consort of Meenatchi. Meenatchi was originally an ancient queen 
of the Madura country, and on her death became the presiding demoness of 
of the devil-worship of the district. Later, when the Brahmans came to 
southern India, the new cult absorbed the old by marrying Meenatchi to 
Siva and giving her a place in the Hindu pantheon. " ^^^ 

NOTES ON THE PIONEERS OF THE REPUBLICAN VALLEY. 

John P. King died at his home east of Wakefield, May 22, 1906, aged seventy- 
two years. He was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, December 24, 
1833, where he lived until early manhood. In 1854 he removed to Illinois. 
"The next spring he came to Pottawatomie county, Kansas, and after 

spending the summer there he came to Clay county where he 

has resided ever since. At first he lived in a little house south of Chet Flem- 
ming's home, but soon moved to the farm where he spent his life. . . . 
About forty years ago Mr. King united with the Methodist Episcopal church, 
of which he remained a faithful and earnest member. ... On the 5th 
of January, 1859, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary Bowers. To this 
union three children were born. His companion, one daughter— Mrs. John 
Male — a foster-daughter and grandchildren remain to mourn his loss. The 
funeral services were conducted by Reverend Lacey at the Timber Creek 
schoolhouse, on Wednesday afternoon, where a large concourse of relatives, 
friends and lifelong neighbors gathered to pay their last respects to the 
honored dead, after which the remains were interred in the Timber Creek 
cemetery. The bereaved ones have the sympathy of all." 

"Jeremiah Younkin, a former resident of Clay county, an early settler 
here, died Monday, February 25, at his home on Timber creek, with a com- 
plication of diseases incident to old age. The deceased was seventy-nine 
years old, and the funeral occurred on Wednesday at eleven o'clock A. M., 
and the remains were laid to rest in the Milford cemetery. The deceased 
leaves a wife, two sons and three daughters, and one sister, Mrs. D. H. 
Myers of this city. The deepest sympathy of a host of friends of the afflicted 
family is extended to them in their sad hour of bereavement. " — (Clay Center 
Times, March 7, 1907.) 

Note 145.— Strabo, book XV, c. 1. 4 (p. 74) and 73 (pp. 118, 119): "Roman copper coins of the 
smallest value have been found in such numbers at Madura as to sug-gest that a Roman colony 
was settled at that place. They come down to the time of Arcadius and Honorius (400 A. D.)." 
— (V. A. Smith, Early History of India, p. 337.) 

Note 14i;. — Dr. J. P. Jones, in Sixty-sixth Ann. Rept. of the Madura Mission, pp. 88, 89. 



The Wakefield Colony. 43 

Somerset county, Pennsylvania,'^' the old home of our Timber creek pio- 
neers, seems to have been colonized soon after the opening of the highways '^« 
connecting Pittsburg with Philadelphia. "It is probable that, not long after 
these roads were opened, traders and pioneers found theirway to this county, 
and made settlement; but their names and adventures, if any, have not been 
recorded." Somerset, the county-seat, originally called Brunerstown, was 
laid out in 1795 and incorporated as a borough in 1804. A lithographed view 
of the town, as it must have appeared in the first half of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, is given in Rupp's History and Topography (p. 565). The first wave 
of population appears to have been Scotch-Irish, but by 1830 the German 
element had come to predominate. Eighty years before, at the time of the 
organization of Cumberland county (of which Somerset county formed a 
part), Scotch-Irish names greatly exceeded the German. "When the county 
(Cumberland) was erected, in 1750, it contained 807 taxable inhabitants, and 
was represented in the assembly by Joseph Armstrong and Hermannus Al- 
richs. Robert McCoy, Benjamin Chambers, David McGaw, James Mclntire 
and John McCormick were the commissioners to select a site for a court- 
house."'" 

Orleans county, Vermont, '^o was the old home of the Avery family, of 
Caine's creek. Lying as it does on the Canadian border, it was settled at a 
comparatively late date, and long retained the character of a pioneer com- 
munity. The town of Lowell was organized under the name of Kellyvale, 
then in Chittenden county, March 5, 1787. In the town of Troy the first 
settler was Capt. Moses Elkins, brother of Josiah Elkins, of Peacham, "a 
noted hunter and Indian trader," who moved thither in the summer of 1797. 
Many settlers left during the War of 1812, and even as late as 1837 the re- 
membrance of border warfare was revived by the Canadian insurrection. 

THE RICHES. OF OVER STOWEY. 

Our attention has already been drawn to the fact that the genealogies 
both of the Locke and the Avery families claim for them a west country 
origin. '51 Partly, therefore, for its local associations, and partly because it 
it serves to illustrate the divergence of American from British nationality, 
I venture to include a brief account of the Rich family. 

This surname first appears in the person of Edmund Rich (died 1240), 
better known in church history as St. Edmund of Abingdon. Whether as 
townsmen or yeomen, its bearers seemed to have belonged to the substantial 
middle class. For several centuries a family of this name was settled at 
Stowey, in the Quantocks, and by local tradition they are said to have been 
lords of the manor in that neighborhood. The surname Rich's Holford '" 

Note 147.-Hist. Coll. of State of Pennsylvania, Phila.. 1848 (Geo. W. Gorton). Somerset Co. , 
pp. 615-619. 

Note 148.— Washington's road in 1754; Bouquet's road in 1758. 

Note 149.— Cumberland county was separated from Lancaster county by the act of January 
27, 1750; Bedford from Cumberland. March 9, 1771 ; Somerset from Bedford by the act of April 
17. 1795.- (Hist. Coll. of Penn., p. 615.) 

Note 150.— See Vermont Hist. Magazine, vol. IH (1877), Orleans county, pp. 31-402. 

Note 151.— Geneal. and Hist. Record of the Descendants of Wm. Locke, of Woburn, pp. 342- 
346 ;The Dedham Branch of the Avery Family in America, p. 12. 

Note 152. — The addition of such a surname as, for example, in the case of Bovey Tracey, 
Bishop's Lydeard, etc.. invariably shows the proprietor, or the dignitary, thus indicated to have 
been lord of the manor. 



The Wakefield Colony. 

still attaches to a place on the east slope of the Quantock hills. During the 
past two centuries the proprietors of 'Cross' were: 

Samuel Rich I, and his wife Joan, who are commemorated on the mural 
tablet in the aisle '^a of the parish church at Over Stowey. They lived in 
the reigns of William III and Queen Anne, and are mentioned as the grand- 
parents of James Rich, esq., who died April 15, 1815. 

Samuel Rich II (died 1765), son of the preceding, and his wife Betty, 
two sons, and a daughter named Anstice, are buried in the family vault near 
the porch of the parish church. He was born two years before the legisla- 
tive union of Scotland, and lived through the momentous half-century which 
saw the creation of the British empire. 

Thomas Rich, esq., (1735-1813), who succeeded his father in 1765, was 
proprietor of 'Cross' for forty-eight years. A younger contemporary of 
his was Thomas Poolei^^ (1765-1837), the friend of the poet Coleridge. In 
1796 Mr. Poole secured for Coleridge a cottage in the village of Nether 
Stowey,'" and the poet resided there until he went to Germany in 1798. A 
curious incident connected with the invasion threatened by Napoleon Bona- 
parte likewise belongs to the times of Thomas Rich. The ancient hill fort 
of Dowsborough,!'^ enclosing, it is said, some ten acres, overlooks the twin 
villages of Stowey. In the long ago it must have been the rallying-point 
for the tribe that inhabited those parts. When, therefore, the anticipated 
landing of the French became a matter of daily anxiety, '" it was resolved 
by the people of the district, to retire to Dowsborough and prepare to resist 
the invader. All the wagons in the neighborhood were chartered to convey 
the families of the inhabitants "with their belongings to the ancient hilltop 
refuge on the first warning of danger." '^s 

James Rich, esq., a younger brother of Thomas Rich, proprietor from 
1813 to 1815, was the last of the elder branch of the family. At his death 
the estate was divided among all descendants of his grandfather, i'"'' He 
gave to the parish church of Over Stowey the massive brass chandelier which 
hangs in the nave of the church, and it was lighted for the first time at his 
funeral. By the terms of his will the house and farm at Cross passed to 
Edmund Rich, of Butcombe, near Bristol. '''^' It is said that James Rich met 
my maternal great-grandfather by chance at a fair, having previously been 
unaware of his existence, and that he was so much pleased with the younger 

Note 153.— The church consists of the nave and one aisle only. 

Note 154.— National Diet, of Biog., vol. XL VI, pp. 104, 105; Mrs. Henry Sanford, Thomas 
Poole and his Friends. 2 vols.. 1888. 

Note 155. — It was during Coleridge's stay in Nether Stowey that the "Rime of the Ancient 
Mariner" was composed. 

Note 156.— The elevation of Dowsborough is about 1100 feet. 

Note 157.— Cf. Coleridge's "Fears in Solitude,' which, refers to the threatened invasion of 
the French in 1796-'98. 

Note 158.— Beatrix F. Cresswell, The Quantock Hills, their Combes and Villages, p. 89. 

Note 159.— The disappearance of large proprietors who by descent and social position ranked 
with the gentry, as well as that of the lesser yeoman— freeholders, was one of the changes which 
distinguished the England of revolutionary times from the England of the earliest colonial period. 
In the days of Cromwell the English were to a ^reat extent a nation of yeoman freeholders.— 
■' From the early years of the eighteenth century this class began to disappear, and by the end of 
the century it was almost extinct."— (Lecky, History of England, vol. 1, p. 557.) 

Note 160. — About this time another member bf the Rich family, Claudius James Rich, of 
Bristol, was engaged in discovering, or, to speak more precisely, definitely ascertaining, the sites 
of ancient Nineveh and Babylon. 



The Wakefield Colotnj. 45 

man that he took him back to Stowey, showed him the house and lands at 
Cross and asked him how he would like to own that property some day. 
James Rich, esq., died April 15, 1815; his funeral was held at night in the 
parish church, and all the heirs, more than a hundred in number, were as- 
sembled to hear the reading of his will. 

Edmund Rich, who took possession of the house at Cross in 1815, was fol- 
lowed by a son and a grandson, each bearing the name of Samuel. George 
Lansdowne, esq., afterwards of Hock Pitt, who married a daughter of Ed- 
mund Rich, was the first of our relations to come to this country. He trav- 
eled through the Northern states, and during his stay in the West was much 
annoyed by the familiarity of the friendly Indians. They would come into 
the house unbidden and help themselves to whatever happened to strike their 
fancy. Traveling facilities were in a backward state, and on one occasion 
Mr. Lansdowne made the trip from Albany to New York in a cutter. He 
was accompanied in his travels by the son of a Mr. Keene, of Banwell, in 
the Mendips.i"! David Keene, a younger brother, I believe, was after- 
wards rector of St. John's church, Milwaukee, and his "son a classmate of 
President Roosevelt at Harvard. ^^^ 



APPENDIX II. -The Marshall Maps.i" 

THE FIRST MAP. 

The first map is entitled "A Map of Junction City, Kansas, and Adjacent 
Territory. ' ' It was published by the Davis County Emigration ( sic ) Society, 
of which S. M. Strickler was president and A. C. Pierce secretary. The 
reverse side of the map gave a prospectus of the advantages of Junction 
City and the surrounding district. 

The map shows the proposed course of the Republican Valley railroad as 
originally planned, and also a proposed line to Omaha running north by way 
of Five Mile creek. Other points of interest are, (1) southeastern Clay 
county, including the Wakefield neighborhood, (2) the military reservation 
of Fort Riley, and (3) the hilly country south of the Kansas river, extending 
from Lyons creek to Humboldt. The last-named district has been identified 
with the northern boundary of Quivira, invaded by the Spanish conqueror 
Coronado in 1541. The military reservation of Fort Riley contains the ruins 
of Pawnee, including the capitol building in which the territorial legislature 
met on July 2, 1855. The map extends as far west as the section on which 
St. John's church stands (township 10 south, range 3 east). The creek flow- 
ing parallel to the east bank of the Republican appears to be wrongly named. 
It is unquestionably the stream now known as Timber creek. 

THE SECOND MAP. 

The second map (p. 23) owes its origin to matters of practical interest. 
When the settlers came the land was one continuous expanse of rolling prairie 



Note 161.— An oak settle, once the property of the elder Mr. Keene, stands by the old-fash- 
ioned kitchen fireplace at Hock Pitt. 

Note 162.— Most of the items of oral tradition were given me by my cousin, Geo. E. Lans- 
downe, Esq., J. P. C C. of Over-Stowey ; an account of the Rev. David Keene, D. D., written by 
his son and published in the St. John's Observer, Milwaukee, June, 1897, was furnished by the 
Rev. James Slidell, the present rector. 

Note 163.— To those specified in the text we may add (3) a map of the district southwest of 
Wakefield, showing its occupants in the early eighties, and (4) a sketch-map of the Golden Ridge 
school district. 



46 



The Wakefield Colony. 




MAP OF JUNCTION CITY AND ADJACENT COUNTRY. 

The first Marshall map, 1868. 

broken only by the timber that skirted the banks of the larger creeks. 
There were no fences or boundaries, and no striking peculiarities of sur- 
face. A section seemed to owe its very identity to the presence of settlers 
upon it. In view of this practical difficulty. Mr. J. P. Marshall made an 
outline chart of the township in which his claim was situated, and from 
time to time entered the names of those who settled upon it. The map was 
drawn with pen and ink upon a sheet of ruled note-paper, and measures 
25.3 X 15.3 cm., or with the margin 25.5 x 19.8 cm. It is much yellowed with 
age. Although the map was drawn in 1874, supplementary entries were oc- 



The Wakefield Colony. 



47 



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casionally made during the three or four following years. A few explana- 
tory remarks may be added in this connection : 

1. The shaded portions of the map represent claims purchased of the 
Kansas Land and Emigration Company. This excluded homesteads, tech- 
nically so called, as well as the farms of the earlier American settlers in the 
Quimby creek valley. 



48 



The Wakefield Colony. 



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SCHOOL DISTRICT No. 96. 
Revised April, 1887. 

2. The dotted outline represents the boundary of the Golden Ridge school 
district. 

3. The name (scarcely legible) on the SE>4 of sec. 17, twp. 10, range 4 
east, is probably to be read "Purinton. " The earliest entry on the Nio of 
SW>4 of sec. 10, in Gill township, may possibly be read " Winterbourne. " 

4. With regard to section 15 (Gill township) the evidence of the Marshall 
map has been called in question. The most likely solution is that which has 
been offered in the sixth section of this history. It is an explanation which 
must.be accepted in the case of sections 11 and 31 in the same township. 
Here land was purchased by settlers that afterwards unquestionably reverted 
to the corporation to which it originally belonged. 



The Wakefield Colony. 49 

A letter of recent date from Mr. Marshall contains so much interesting 
matter that I venture to cite it here, although a brief extract has been in- 
serted in the body of the history: 

"Wakefield, September 30, 1906. 

"My Dear Friend— I fully appreciate your desire to sift out the truth 
and 'hold fast that which is good. ' Men's memories become somewhat hazy 
as to matters occurring over one-third of a century ago, and even written 
records may be in error, as boundaries were little known and less understood 
during the first few years of settlement. 

"Mr. Quimby settled on the quarter-section of the place known as his. 
The other 240 acres he got from his brother Frank and a man named Robin- 
son, both of whom went as soldiers during the civil war and never returned. 

"The '80' now owned by John Young was first settled by a man from 
Illinois, who built a sod house on the southeast corner. Jason Withers, I 
think, got it for a tree claim, and then my brother Arthur had it. When he 
left, i took it, selling it to the Young's shortly after. Jason Withers mar- 
ried Miss Cowdery and lived on the ELj of SWI4 of sec. 12. . . . 

"The Buckle on section 26 was E. T. Buckle, who lived there before his 
marriage to Miss Young, after he traded places with James Young. 

"I enclose some slips [maps, pp. 530, 531] covering some of the discussed 
points, and I think they will agree with my earlier map, except that some of 
the lines maybe run east and west instead of north and south. In the early 
days with no roads or fences, it was difficult to tell which way the land lay. 

"Hoping that these notes may be of use to you, I am. yours very tru y, 

John P. Marshall." 



APPENDIX III.— The Chronological Table. 
In constructing the chronological table on page 53 I have selected chiefly 
those events that have a merely local character, or else such as connect the 
history of the Junction City district with the affairs of the state at large. 

INDIAN TRAILS. 

From very early times the IniJian tribes carried on a primitive sort of 
commerce by means of trails or track-ways. At least two such trails inter- 
sected Kansas diagonally. One appears to have passed up the north side of 
the Kansas river and then to have crossed the watershed from some point 
below Ellsworth to the great bend of the Arkansas. Another led from the 
head waters of the Osage and the Neosho, crossing the trail previously 
mentioned near Great Bend, and then passing up the Arkansas to the moun- 
tains. The trail was continued by way of the Rio de las Animas and the 
Raton pass to the valley of the Rio Grande del Norte. These routes connected 
the Mississippi valley with New Mexico, i"-* 

harahey and quivira. 

In the sixteenth century the country now known as Kansas was included 
in two regions called Harahey and Quivira. Harahey was the territory of 
the Pawnee Indians. It embraced western Kansas, but extended far be- 
yond the borders of the state. Quivira lay for the most part between the 
Kansas and the Arkansas rivers. It was intersected by the trails pre- 
viously mentioned. When Coronado conquered the settled races of New 
Mexico, in 1541, the natives lured him into the open plains of the interior, 
hoping thus to compass his destruction. On the march to Quivira the Span- 

Note 164.- Kan. Hist. Coll.. vol. 6. 1889-'96 : "Trails in Southern Kansas," by Hon. J. R. 
Mead, of Wichita, pp. 88-93. 



50 



The Wakefield Colony. 



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Sestions 13 and 23, railroad land. 

"This is the earliest settlement of the tract herein described. The WVi> SW% Sec. 24 is 
where the Clinches lived— J^. P. Marshall." 
Adjoining tract on opposite page. 

ish invaders crossed the state diagonally and seem to have reached the 
Kansas river somewhere within the limits of the Junction City district. "^^ 

In the seventeenth century a band of the New Mexican natives revolted 
from the Spaniards and founded a settlement in Quivira. It was known to 
the Spaniards as Cuartelejo. In recent years the site has been identified 
and excavated, i"" 

KANSAS A BORDER-LAND. 

Some centuries before the Columbian discovery the Siouan Indians mi- 
grated westward from the region of the Appalachian mountains. At the 
time of the Spanish Conquest they had spread all over the more open regions 
of the Mississippi and Missouri valleys. To this race belonged the Da- 
kotas on the north, and the Omahas, Kansas, and Wazhazhas (Osages) on 
the south. As the Siouan tribes pressed up the river valleys west lof the 

Note 165. — The original records of Coronado's expedition have been collected, edited and 
translated by Geo. W. Winship, in the Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American 
Ethnology. 1892-'93, part 1. pp. .339-598 : he has likewi.se published the English translations sepa- 
rately under the title "The Journey of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, 1540-'42." 

Note 166.— "Some Pueblo Ruins in Scott County, Kansas," by S. W. Williston and H. 'T. 
Martin, in the Kan. Hist. Coll.. vol. 6. 1897-1900, pp. 124-130. 



The Wakefield Colony. 



51 



Township 10, Range 4 east. 




Missouri they came in conflict with the warUke Pawnees and Wichitas. 
By the seventeenth century Kansas had already become the border-land 
of the Siouan and Caddoan races. Each of the important rivers— the Kan- 
sas, the Osage and the Arkansas— was the highway of an invading tribe. 
The Kansas tribe eventually occupied the entire Kaw valley. It will thus 
be seen that the state owes its name to invaders from Missouri. On Vau- 
gondy's map (1750) the eastern part of the state already appears as "Pays 
des Canses, " "Land of the Kansas [Indians] "; and the Pawnees still re- 
tained possession of the central and western parts of Nebraska and the north- 
ern part of Kansas. Their villages were in the Platte and the Republican 
valleys. ''*' 

KANSAS THE FRONTIER BETWEEN THE POSSESSIONS OF FRANCE AND 
SPAIN, 1705-1803. 

In the first quarter of the eighteenth century Kansas became the border- 
land between the colonial empires of France and Spain. The French made 
their first expedition to the mouth of the Kansas river in 1705. On Septem- 
ber 27, 1719, M. Dutisne, a French oflRcer, took formal possession of the 
Pawnee country in the name of France. The following year the Spaniards 

Note 167.— Winsor, the Mississippi Basin, p. 205. 



52 The Wakefield Colony. 

attempted to found a colony on the banks of the Missouri, but were mas- 
sacred by the Indians. In 1722-'23 Fort Orleans, Mo., was founded by the 
French on an island near the mouth of the Osage river. The commandant, 
M. de Bourgmont, explored Kansas during the following year. "In 1725," 
says Spring, "Fort Orleans was captured by Kansas savages and the garri- 
son slaughtered. Details are wholly unknown, as not a white man survived 
to tell the tale, and the stolid, close-mouthed Indian never broke silence. 
The massacre effectually blighted the enthusiasm of Frenchmen for ex- 
plorations in Kansas. "'^^ 

KANSAS COMES UNDER THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Kansas was included in the Louisiana purchase of 1803, and was explored 
by Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike in 1806. On September 29 of that year Pike caused 
the Spanish flag to be lowered and the United States flag to be raised at 
Pawnee Republic (a village of the Pawnee Indians from which the Republi- 
can river derives its name). This was 265 years after the invasion of Coro- 
nado and 81 years after the destruction of Fort Orleans. 

In 1831-'32 the United States began to remove the Indians from the Old 
Northwest to reservations in Kansas. In 1843 the Wyandots came from 
Ohio and settled in eastern Kansas. They remained in the state about 
twelve years (1843-'55). 

Kansas was opened for settlement on May 30, 1854, and after seven years 
of checkered territorial history became a state in 1861. 

NOTK 168.— " Kansas " ( in the Am. Commonwealth Series ), by L. W. Spring, p. 20. 



The Wakefield Coloruj. 

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



53 



Public Affairs. 



Local Events. 



Timber Creek. 



Madura (Wakefield). 



IS54, March 30. The Kansas-Nebraska bill. 

IS54, October 7. Hon. Andrew H. Reeder, first governor of the territory of Kansas, arrives at 

Leavenworth. 
1855, July 2-6. Session of the territorial legislature at Pawnee. (Ruins of the capitol to be 
seen in the military reservation at Fort Riley.) 

I 1856 (April). Moses, William and Jeremiah Younkin and John King 
I settle on Timber creek (Grant township ). 

1857, (spring). Messrs. Quimby and Payne 
settle in Republican township. 

1858. ( May ). Rev. William Todd settles in Re- 
publican township. 

1858, December 2. Edwin Younkin born. ( First child of American 
parentage in Grant township.) 

1859, House on the Wakefield town site built 
by James Gilbert. 

1860. July 25. Geo. Kirby born. (First child 
of American parentage in Gill township.) 

1861, January 30. Kansas admitted as a state. 

1866, (November). Lieut.-col. Geo. A. Custer assumes command at Fort Riley (till 1871). 

I 1868, July 4. Madura schoolhouse opened. 
1888, September 17. Battle of Arickaree ( Beecher's island ) ; decisive overthrow of the plains 

Indians. 
1868, (November). Hon. James M. Harvey, governor of Kansas. (Reelected 1870.) 

I 1869, July 12. Messrs. Pierce and Wake inspect the land between Chap- 
I man creek and the Wakefield town site. 

I 1869, August 12. H. S. Walter and P. Gillies 
I settle in Republican township. 

I 1869, August 21. John Wormald, Alexander Maitland, R. T. Batchelor. 
I and others, arrive in Junction City. 

I 1869, August 21. The pioneer partly left Eng- 
land August 3, landed in New York on the 
I 15th, and reached Junction City on the 21st. 

1869. August 25. Preliminary organization of the Kansas Land and 

Emigration Company ("incorporated August 25. 1869"). 
1869, August 26. The town site of Wakefield laid out by Richard Wake, 
John Wormald, Alexander Maitland, and Col. John S. Loomis. 

1869. September 15. The "Nebraska party" 
sails from Liverpool, landing in New York 
on the 29th, and arrived in Junction City 
October 6. 

1869, October 12. Meeting of the stockholders at the Hale House, 
Junction City. 

1870, January 16. A severe blizzard occasions much suffering. 
I 1870, April 6. The Alsop party sailed from 

Liverpool. On the 25th they are met at 
I Junction City by Rev. Richard Wake. 

1870, (April). The opening of the company's store celebrated April 15. 
1870, May 8. Methodist Episcopal church organized. 
1870, May 30. The Wakefield Ferry and Bridge Company incorporated. 

1870. (summer). Drought and failure of crops. 

1871 , January 25-March 8. Sessions of the Wakefield Agricultural and 
Literary Society recorded in the Wakefield Herald, vol. I, No. 3. 

1871. (spring). Services of the Episcopal church first held at the 

home of Mrs. Pearson, in Gill township. 
1871, March 8. J. B. Quimby delivers an address before the society on 

"How to Begin a Farm." 
1871, (spring). Organization of the monthly market. 

I 1871, April 5. The Sparrowhawk party leaves 
I England. 

I 1872, (July). St. John's Episcopal church destroyed by a tornado. 

1875, Hon. Thomas A. Osborn governor of Kansas (reelected, 1874). 

1875. May 16. "George Grant imports stock for a 60,000-acre farm at 
Victoria, Ellis county."— Wtlder's Annals. 

1874, Kansas devastated by grasshoppers. 

1874, October 14. Vestry meeting of St. John's parish held at the resi- 
dence of Dr. Chas. Hewitt. 

1876. (April). St. John's church dedicated. 

1876, June 25. Battle of Little Big Horn river ( Montana). Felix James Pitters, a Wakefield 
colonist, among the' slain. 



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